


Timeline Swap

by Fangirlwriting



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Instead of Rich, Jeremy took a Squip Freshman Year, Lots of Angst, M/M, This one’s gonna hurt, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 18:28:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 34
Words: 93,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20764949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirlwriting/pseuds/Fangirlwriting
Summary: Jeremy still can’t quite believe his mother just... left like that.  Somewhere in his head that can’t seem to settle down right now, he settles on the fact that his mother was going to take him shoe shopping soon.This leads him to a Payless, where he unintentionally stumbles into a decision that will change his life.  For the better or worse?  That remains to be seen.





	1. Chapter 1

Jeremy was still sitting on his bed staring at nothing, and it had been almost three hours. It was like he couldn’t get what had happened to process in his head.

His mother had been fighting with his father. That was nothing new— what was new was that the fight had ended with his mother storming upstairs, packing a suitcase, and leaving.

Jeremy could still hear his father’s muffled sobs in their bedroom, and it was starting to get to him. Enough that he walked downstairs, grabbed the car keys, and left.

He couldn’t technically drive on his own yet, but whatever, who even cared?

He wasn’t even sure where he was going at first. But he found himself at the mall. The last thing he could remember his mother telling him was something about how she needed to take him to get some new shoes.

Jeremy grabbed his phone from his pocket and called one of the three contacts on his phone— his mom, his dad, and Michael. Jeremy hit ‘call’ on the last of the three and put his phone on speaker before leaning his head against the top of the steering wheel.

He then listened to the phone start beeping as the screen said ‘no service.’

Oh, that’s right. Michael was on that camping trip with his moms. In the middle of nowhere.

No cell service.

Michael had complained for weeks leading up to it, saying it was leaving air conditioning in the middle of summer, and he didn’t want to go. Jeremy was inclined to agree with him, especially now.

Jeremy left the car immediately— he needed to be around people. That was a weird need coming from him, but if he stayed by himself a second longer he was sure he would break down sobbing. He wouldn’t let himself cry around people.

He walked straight into the food court, and the feeling of a lump in his throat was lessened at least enough.

He walked into the actual mall, meaning there was enough people that he wasn’t going to let himself cry, but not enough that he felt overwhelmed. Eventually he found himself outside a Payless, and he remembered— oh yeah. Shoes.

He walked inside, and he was the only person there. The man at the desk near the back must have noticed, because he looked up. “Oh hey.” he said. “You here for a Squip?”

Jeremy blinked. “What?”

“Oh.” the man stopped. “Oh. Sorry. I’m still kinda new to this, and you just looked miserable enough that I assumed— sorry, anything I can help you with?”

“Woah, wait.” Jeremy walked up to the counter. “You thought I looked miserable enough that I came here to get quick? I don’t need running shoes.”

The man sighed. “Not quick, kid. Squip. It’s a computer from Japan.”

Now Jeremy was even more confused. “You thought I looked miserable enough that I came here to buy a Japanese computer?”

“Look, okay, just— come here.”

Jeremy, now even more confused, followed the guy to the back of his shop. He handed Jeremy a shoebox, which, when Jeremy opened it was full of gray pills.

“These are Squips.” the man said. “They’re supercomputers. You take them with Mountain Dew and they implant in your brain and help you get anything you want.”

Jeremy stares at the guy. “Are… are you on something?”

The man sighed. “Yeah, whatever. I’m never gonna sell any of these things. I am way overstocked, I swear to God—”

“Wait!” Jeremy called as the guy turned to put the shoebox back. “Do you have any assurance that these things are real?”

The guy snorted. “Yeah, right. This is untested, technically illegal technology. Why do you think I only take cash from the back of a shoe store?” The man leaned in. “But I took one. Changed. My. Life.”

“You work in a shoe store in a mall…?”

“Yeah, for now.”

Jeremy bit his lip. “Okay, if these really work, and that’s a _ big _ ‘if,’ could they help you, say… get someone to love you?”

The guy rolled his eyes. “Yes, they help you with crushes.”

“Not a crush.”

The guy raised his eyebrows.

“Like I’m telling you.”

“I did say they could help you get anything you want, did I not?”

Jeremy took a second to consider again. What if this Japanese computer thing could help him win back his mother? What if he could finally be worth something to her, if this thing could help with that? His mother had always said he was a worthless loser, maybe…

Maybe if he wasn’t a loser he wouldn’t be so worthless.

“How much?” Jeremy asked.

“How much you got?”

“I mean, I came here to buy shoes, like… 80 bucks?”

The guy seemed to consider this for a second. “Eh, I haven’t sold any since that Nicole chick came in here like a year ago. I’ll take it.”

Jeremy passed the money over and the guy handed him a singular pill. “Take with Mountain Dew.”

“Why?”

The guy groaned. “I don’t know! Something about Mountain Dew, okay?” he turned and put the shoebox back, muttering “Is everyone going to ask that?” to himself.

“Oh yeah.” the guy called over his shoulder. “One more thing, this part’s important. If you ever want to deactivate it, take Mountain Dew Red.”

“Uh… if this thing can do everything you say, why would I want to deactivate it?”

The guy raised his hands. “Just gotta tell ya, kid.”

Jeremy walked out of the Payless with no shoes and one pill that was honestly probably just a placebo, but… it’s not like he could take that chance. Not if there was a chance he could take back the last three hours.

There was some change in the car, and he could stop and get a Mountain Dew on the way home. If this thing didn’t work, he was positive he was going to have a breakdown, and he didn’t want to do that in the middle of a mall food court.

He got the soda and made it back to his house about fifteen minutes later and walked up to his room, past his dad and still ignoring his crying.

Jeremy set the pill and the Mountain Dew down on his desk before looking at them. “Christ, I hope I didn’t just spend 80 dollars on a painkiller or something.” he muttered before popping the pill in his mouth and swallowing it with the Mountain Dew.

He waited a second, absorbing the minty taste.

He waited another second as the minty taste faded.

Well, fantastic. He’d just blown eighty dollars on a wintergreen tic tac.

Jeremy’s eyes welled up, like he’d known they would, and he put his head on his desk and started sobbing into his arms. Why would some stupid Payless employee take advantage of a kid who was clearly upset to make eighty dollars? _ Asshole. _

Then, as if it couldn’t get worse, Jermey felt a headache, start, probably because of his crying—

**Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort.**

Wait.

What?

Jeremy’s headache got about a million times worse and he couldn’t help the cry of _ “Mild?!” _ that came out.

**Calibration Complete. Access procedure initiated.**

Jeremy’s headache stopped, and he had a couple seconds to process what had just happened. So clearly the Payless guy wasn’t lying, and this was the Squip thing he talked about. Okay… okay. So—

**Discomfort level may increase.**

Wait.

_ What?! _

Jeremy screeched, then the next second tried hard to keep his voice down due to not wanting to alert his father.

**Accessing neural memory**

**Accessing muscle memory**

**Access procedure complete**

**Jeremy Heere**

**Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor**

**Your Squip.**

Jeremy managed to pry his head off the desk to see what appeared to be—

**Wow. You really are a mess.**

“Wh-what?” Jeremy asked.

**Okay, step one. Stop talking to me out loud. I exist only in your mind. So all anyone else would see should they be in here is you having an animated conversation with yourself.**

“You—” Jeremy cut himself off. _ You look like my mom. _

His mom— _ the Squip _ looked down at her— itself? **That is a fairly simple observation, Jeremy. It is more efficient if I take a form of a person you admire, or in this case—** The Squip spread its arms. **Of a person whose admiration and love you are trying to achieve.** **You wish to acquire the love of your mother, and you believe the best way to do that is to become less of a “worthless loser,” as your mother put it.**

_ Am I right? _ Jeremy asked desperately.

**Yes.** the Squip said. **Although I will be honest with you, there is not much of a chance.**

_ How much is ‘not much?’ _ Jeremy asked, fighting the lump in his throat.

**Your mother has already left, meaning currently your chances of gaining her attention back are about 4%.**

_ There’s nothing you can do? _ Jeremy asked, his eyes already watering again.

**Stop crying. **the Squip said harshly. Jeremy’s tears dried up immediately.

**You have more of a chance of gaining your mother’s attention and affection later in life. Would you like me to alert you when this time comes and have you act accordingly when it does?**

Jeremy blinked in surprise. He… had _ not _ thought that far ahead.

_ I have no chance at getting her back now? _

**You have a 4% chance.**

Jeremy bit his lip.

**Would you like some time to think about it?**

_ Yes— I mean no— I mean— tell me how to get Mom back when my chances are higher. _

The Squip nodded. **Very well. Would you like to continue with your goal of becoming less of a worthless loser?**

_ Um. Do you have to call me that? _

**It is your term.**

_ It sounds… different when it comes from someone else. _

**It is accurate.**

Jermey looked down, suddenly feeling very self conscious.

**Jeremy. If you want to change yourself it is imperative that you accept that your mother is correct. You are a worthless loser.**

Jeremy hunched his shoulders. _ Please stop. _

**Jeremy. Look at me, please.**

The Squip moved its hand under his chin, and though it phased through, Jeremy could have sworn he felt the familiar sensation of his mother lifting his chin, and his head moved up like she was. **Repeat after me, okay?**

Jeremy nodded on instinct.

**You are a worthless loser.**

Everything about the situation felt so familiar that Jeremy mumbled out “I’m a worthless loser,” without thinking.

**Good. Everything about you is so terrible.**

Jeremy was crying for the third time in less than an hour. “Everything about me is just terrible,” he whispered.

**There you go. ** The Squip smiled like his mother did on the rare occasions that Jermey did something right, and a small bit of the awful feeling that had settled in Jeremy’s chest dissipated. **But we can fix that, Jeremy.**

_ We can? _ Jeremy remembered to talk in his head this time.

**Absolutely. I can help you. By the time school starts you can be one of the most popular kids in school.**

_ Really? _ Jeremy asked. He had to admit that sounded kind of awesome.

**Absolutely. Let’s get started, shall we?**

…

It was about a week later, and Jeremy still wasn’t quite sure how he had ended up here. He didn’t even know people threw parties over the summer.

But here he was standing in Jake Dillinger’s living room— yes, _ the Jake Dillinger. _

The Squip said they were at this party to make connections— ones he desperately needed when the school year started.

He was apparently too well known as Michael Mell’s best friend to be able to pull off the new kid trick, according to his Squip. It would bring this up often.

And then Jeremy would ask why exactly Michael hadn’t been anywhere to be found even after the day he was supposed to come back from his camping trip, and the Squip would change the conversation topic.

But the fact that he couldn’t pull off the new kid trick meant that he had to spend a lot of the summer building connections. Their primary target: Jake Dillinger himself. Jeremy had seen him around at various times throughout the party, but the Squip had forbade him from talking to him each time it had happened. Apparently it was waiting for the “right moment.”

Jeremy was beginning to wonder if that moment would even come tonight, when his Squip spoke up.

**Let’s go to the kitchen.**

_ The kitchen? Why? _

**Don’t ask questions, just obey. **Jeremy followed the Squip’s directions as it gave them and moved towards the kitchen.

Jake was in the kitchen, alone. So this must have been the “right moment.”

Jeremy couldn’t see why, because Jake didn’t really look like he wanted company right now.

** _Greet_ ** ** him, Jeremy.**

Jeremy quickly ran through the list of acceptable greeting the Squip had provided. He still wasn’t sure he could say ‘yo’ without sounding like an idiot, so he went with “Hey.”

Jake looked up and—

Wow. The Squip definitely got this wrong, because he looked _ pissed. _

Jeremy was about to hold his hands up and escape when the Squip cut him off.

**Stare. Back. Look at him like you don’t care about your own death.**

_ But I very much do care about my own death. _

Jeremy felt a shock with which he was becoming very familiar.

Jeremy stares back. And Jake lasted about three seconds before he glared away. “Fine.” he grumbled. “What do you want?”

_ What do I want? _

**Just somewhere quiet.**

“Just somewhere quiet.” Jeremy said, glancing back at his Squip in surprise.

Jake snorted. “Maybe you shouldn’t have come to this party.”

Jeremy took a second to take in the noise. “You’re probably right.” he admitted with prompting. The Squip said something else, and Jeremy continued. “So you threw the party. Do you like noise, then?”

“Tonight? Yup.”

“Oh?”

Jake glared at him. “Keep dreaming.”

“I’m just asking!”

“I’m not spilling all my problems to a stranger.”

**Tell him about your mother.**

_ Tell him— _what?!

**Tell him what happened with your mother.**

_ Are you crazy? _

**Jeremy. **The Squip shocked him again.

“I guess I’m just in a weird mood lately ‘cause of my mom.”

Jake looked at him like he was a weirdo, and Jeremy wanted to crawl in a hole, but the Squip was still going.

“What, just because you’re not going to share your problems with a stranger means your taking the choice away from me?”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Sure, weirdo. Go for it.”

“My mom packed up her stuff and left.”

Jake’s head snapped back over to him.

“Yeah, save it.” Jeremy deadpanned, and that one was genuinely him. “But… yeah. She and my dad were fighting and then all of a sudden she just packed a suitcase and walked out the door. It’s been like, a month. And I thought all the loud noise would help, because the house has been really quiet, but apparently I was wrong.”

“My parents both left.” Jake said softly.

Oh.

Oh. _ Shit. _

“Tonight. Like, six hours ago, I got a note. They’re gone a lot, but now they’re on the run from the law and I guess I shouldn’t expect them back. I couldn’t stand the quiet either.” he admitted. “You said it’s been a month? When does it get better?”

Jeremy snorted. “I’ll let you know.”

Neither of them said anything, and Jeremy realized the Squip hadn’t spoken for a minute and a half.

**Of course. Jeremy, you are capable of making friends on your own.**

_ Well, yeah. Duh. I mean, I didn’t need your help with Michael. _

The Squip shocked him. _ Jesus, what? _

**Jake is about to speak.**

“What’s your name?” Jake asked.

“Jeremy.” Jeremy replies.

“Cool. I’m Jake.” He held out his hand, and Jeremy shook it. “This has been a very weird way to meet someone.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome.” Jeremy said.

Jake laughed.

They both remained there for a while until other people started coming into the kitchen, and Jake left.

_ Should I follow him? _

**Absolutely not. It would look desperate. We’ve done what we needed to.**

_ Okay, cool. How much longer do I have to stay here? _ He didn’t hate them, but parties did wear him down.

**Another half hour. Go mingle.**

Jeremy did just that, which resulted in him collapsing onto his bed when he finally got home.

“God.” he groaned. “Do I get to sleep in tomorrow?”

**Absolutely, Jeremy. You did fantastic tonight.**

It was still weird to hear his mother’s voice praising him so often, but he wasn’t complaining. It might have been weird, but it felt awesome.

…

Jeremy saw Jake many more times throughout the summer, mostly at parties that he threw, and they quickly went from two strangers in similar and shitty situations to two very close friends. It was cool, having friends that weren’t Michael.

He still missed Michael, though. He still had no idea where he was.

Had he moved?

That’s ludicrous. He would have _ told him. _

Right?

What was he saying? _ Of fucking course _ he would have told him. They would have both had a breakdown about it!

However, by the time the first day of sophomore year hit, Jeremy had still heard nothing.

So when he walked into the school, instead of being greeted by his best friend, he was greeted by Jake, which was only a little disappointing.

“Hey, Jeremy!”

“Hey Jake.” Jeremy said with an enthusiastic smile but casual tone of voice. “How’ve ya been, man?”

“You mean since you saw me last night?”

“Hey, you never know. Maybe something happened.”

“Yeah sure, okay.” Jake said with a little smile.

The Squip didn’t police his conversations with Jake unless there were other people around, which was a nice change of pace. It also meant that Jake thought he was a little weird, but surprisingly it didn't bother him, because Jake also clearly found it endearing.

They both happened to share their first period, so they walked towards Mr. Hillman’s english class while talking about decidedly everything except english.

The Squip had reassured Jeremy that he didn’t need to pay attention that year. It had his grades covered, and he could just focus on the stuff that actually mattered.

Like parties, apparently. And Jake Dillinger, and lunch.

When lunch rolled around the first day, Jake waved at him from a table taken up with him, Jenna Rolan, Chloe Valentine, Brooke Lohst, and Dustin Kropp.

The popular kids table.

**Popular students, Jeremy. You are not kids anymore.**

Jeremy was about to start over there when he felt a gentle touch of a hand on his shoulder.

But when he turned around, no one was there.

The Squip turned him around very quickly and started them both towards the table, and Jeremy put the incident out of his mind.

He grinned at Jake as he sat down. “So.” he said. “You wanna introduce me all these girls drooling over you?”

“Oh, you’re hilarious.” Chloe said, crossing her arms. “Who the fuck are you?”

“This is Jeremy.” Jake said, glaring at Chloe. “And you don’t need to be rude to him.”

“He was just pretty fucking rude to me.”

“Okay,” Jeremy said, raising his hands. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend anyone.”

**Never apologize Jeremy.**

_ Um, sorry? _

Jeremy focused back on Chloe, who gave a little ‘hmm,’ but then offered her hand which Jeremy shook.

“I’m Brooke.” Brooke said, doing the same.

“Dustin.” Dustin said from the other side of Jake.

“Jenna.” Jenna said. “I think I’ve seen you around before. Aren’t you that Mell kids best friend?”

Jeremy shrugged and tried to ignore how his chest pinched at that. “I haven’t seen him in awhile. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.” he admitted.

Jenna gave him a bit of a sympathetic look and nodded.

Throughout the whole of the lunch period Jeremy talked easily with the rest of the people at the table. It was almost like he’d always been there. But he guessed people would always be easy to talk to if he had a computer in his head making sure he never messed up.

After lunch he had a different class from everyone except Jenna, so the two of them walked out of the lunchroom together.

Jeremy was chatting idly with her when someone slammed into the front of him.

“Sorry!” the boy said, grabbing the books that had fallen in front of him.

“Oh, it’s all good. Here, let me help you.” Jeremy said, kneeling down and helping him pick up his books.

“Thanks.” the boy said. “I probably shouldn’t bring all of these to school, to be honest.”

“Yeah, I’ll say.” Jeremy said with a chuckle. “I’m Jeremy.”

“Rich. Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah.” Jeremy said, waving as Rich walked down past them and he started talking to Jenna again.

“He brought all of those books to school to read, of his own free will?” Jenna asked, raising an eyebrow back at Rich. “That’s different.”

“Well, yeah, but don’t knock what people like.” Jeremy said. “Reading could honestly be fun if they didn’t force us to read classics all the time.”

“Ugh, amen to that.” Jenna groaned, moving to type something on her phone. “I would love to get to pick what I read. Maybe I could read some of my psych books.”

“Oh, you like psychology?”

Jenna smiled at him. “Yeah. Did you know that since our parents are the only people we interact with for the first couple years of our life, most kids actually want to marry them for a little while?”

“Wow. Uh… cool?”

“Are you kidding? It’s disgusting.”

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah, it really is.”

“But it’s also fascinating. I love learning about that stuff.”

**Jeremy, you have talked to her long enough.**

_ Huh? _

**You’re at your class now. Sit somewhere other than next to her.**

_ But this stuff is actually pretty cool. I want to hear what other stuff she knows. Plus, it’s fun watching people get excited about their passions. _

**Jeremy.** The Squip shocked him.

_ Okay, fine. Geez. _

Jenna looked at him in confusion when he sat somewhere else, but the Squip told him not to look at her, so he didn’t.

The end of the day came up quickly, and Jake waved Jeremy over to a car Jeremy had never seen before.

Turns out Jake had a friend who was a junior who was willing to drive everyone home.

_ Should I— _

**Yes.**

So Jeremy now had a ride for the rest of the year. With the popular students.

Holy shit.

This was about the opposite of where he had imagined himself the year before. He was suddenly one of the most popular people in school, which was awesome. His mom was also gone, which was definitely awful and unexpected…

And Michael was nowhere to be found.

Which sucked.

…

This set the tone for the rest of the year. Dustin disappeared from the group of the popular students a couple weeks after Jeremy showed up for reasons he still wasn’t really sure of. This, in effect, made Jeremy Jake’s new best friend. The dynamic of the popular group was quickly and easily figured out by Jeremy’s Squip.

Jake participated in almost every sport and club that year to avoid the feeling of his empty house and his fear that he’d never be good enough. Jeremy definitely understood that. He tried to help remind Jake how awesome he was as much as he could.

Brooke was glued to Chloe’s side and loved her as a person but was simultaneously jealous of all the attention she got and felt like she didn’t value her. Jeremy tried his best to include her specifically in conversations.

Chloe was scared of losing her status as the hottest and most popular girl in school, and genuinely loved Brooke but was also jealous of the way she felt she was liked for who she was more than her.

Jesus, so many things could be solved if those two would just sit down and have an honest conversation.

Jenna felt like everyone ignored her, so just like Brooke, Jeremy made an effort to include her in conversations and ask for her opinion on things.

And then there came to the subject of Michael.

Sometimes Jeremy thought he saw glances of him in the hallways, but when he looked there was no one there. He got no texts or calls, and the Squip forbade him from going to his house to check because it would look desperate.

“Maybe I am a little desperate.” Jeremy grumbled.

This was responded to with a shock.

The answer to the question of where Michael was came one week in February. The one when Brian West came to the school.

Okay. Jeremy would be the first to admit. With a name like ‘Brian West’ he should have _ expected _ an asshole.

And he did. After he met him.

What was unexpected was that this came the same week that one of the people Chloe picked on had finally gotten the guts to complain to the principal, and so Chloe was more or less on probation and could not give this guy a piece of her mind (believe it or not, Chloe could kick your _ ass _ if you got on her bad side), because the principal had threatened her with two weeks of suspension if anything generally bad, humiliating, harmful, or mildly amusing happened to another student on her behalf.

And Brian West, for a couple weeks, was unfortunately, a student. He was apparently traveling with his parents to find a place for his father to start his new business, as their teacher told them the first day he showed up in Jeremy’s gym class. So he would only be at that school for a couple weeks, but that was enough for the principal to consider him a ‘student.’

Jeremy’s first interaction with him was in gym class.

They were playing dodgeball the day he showed up, and Brian was surprisingly cutthroat. Jeremy heard the ball whistle past his ear so many times he almost felt dizzy.

Unfortunately for Brian, Jeremy had some help. Because here’s the thing about gym class with a Squip.

It _ rocks. _ The pushups Jeremy did all summer helped him actually build up some muscles, and with the added benefit of the Squip being able to control his movements so he didn’t humiliate himself by dying or being terrible at sports made Jeremy into one of those kids that was given a good grade automatically.

So, Jeremy decided to get some help from a Japanese supercomputer (you know, like you do), and nail him in the stomach with a ball hard enough that he had to sit out for a few minutes, and jeremy got a break from balls whizzing past his ear.

However, that meant that after gym Brian approached Jeremy after gym with a bone to pick.

“Hey.”

**Don’t smile, stare—**

_ Like I don’t care about my own death, yeah I know. _

“What do you want?” Jeremy asked casually, throwing his gym clothes back in his locker.

“I’ve heard people say you’re supposed to be one of the few on top of the heap in this school.”

**He is a senior, Jeremy.**

Jeremy snorted. “Dude, I’m a sophomore. That makes me two grades behind you. You threatened by me or something?”

Other people around the two of them started to snicker.

Brian narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. He was about a foot taller than Jeremy, but somehow Jeremy managed to keep his cocky smirk. “You back-talking me?”

“That depends. Did you say something stupid enough to justify it?”

The guy stepped closer. “Watch yourself.”

Jeremy smirked. “We’ll see.”

The guy glared and stalked away.

Jeremy shook his head after him. _ What a loser. _

Except for the fact that he apparently took people one-upping his terrible trash talk very seriously, because it was obvious from that point on that he had found out who Jeremy’s friends were and was making a particular effort to piss Jeremy off by messing with them.

It started with teasing and saying stupid stuff to their face, but when Jeremy clearly was not reacting (thanks, Squip) he started to show his true colors as an absolute asshole.

“Wait, you think who is cute?” Brian asked.

The lapdog that had attached himself to his side glanced over at him. “Brooke Lohst.”

“Seriously? That dumb bitch who always hangs out with Chloe Valentine?”

Jeremy had had the unfortunate luck to be in the hallway with Chloe at the time, and was forced to grab her and hold her back, due to her immediately foaming at the mouth.

“Let me _ go _ Jeremy!” Chloe spat.

“Chloe, two weeks! That’s half a month of not being in school!”

“Yeah, but he’ll be beaten to the pulp he deserves!”

“You will fall so far behind!”

Jeremy would be the first to admit he was really close to letting Chloe go, especially after he saw Brian laughing at the two of them nearby.

**Jeremy, for once your instincts are correct. Do not let Chloe beat that boy up.**

_ Why the fuck not? _

**He could be a useful ally.**

Ally? _The fuck are you talking about? I do not want him as an ally! He just called Brooke a bitch! _

**I can guarantee you one of the people he is going to end up beating up in the coming week is someone you will not be upset by.**

_ Um. Woah. What? Since when is _ that _ how I work? I’m not letting him insult my friends in order to hurt someone I may or may not hate. _

**You don’t hate them yet. But if you do not feel comfortable looking at it that way, I can guarantee you that Chloe will fall too far behind in her math class.**

_ That’s not… I’m not sure how comfortable I feel with that either. I mean isn’t that rationalizing? _

**Focus or Chloe or she’s going to escape your hold and run towards Brian.**

At this point, Jeremy was debating whether or not that was a bad thing, but he tightened his grip on Chloe anyway, who screamed through her teeth.

But despite his Squip insisting he could be an ally, he didn’t have Jeremy even _ trying _ to stay on his good side, which left Jeremy more confused and frustrated than anything else.

And Brian himself definitely wasn’t helping.

He joined frisbee golf and (according to Jake) took to aiming at the other players and shoving them to throw off their balance when the coach wasn’t looking. He was threatening Rich Goranski with some kind of blackmail unless he bought his lunch for him everyday (Jeremy couldn’t imagine what he had on Rich, but apparently it was bad enough). Teachers were _ oblivious _ throughout.

And then there was what Jeremy caught him doing to Jenna after school one day.

“Hey, sweetheart, where are your friends? Run off to hang out with each other again? Seems like they don’t like you very much.”

Jeremy looked around the corner.

_ Come on, let me help her! _

**No, Jeremy.**

_ Why?! _

**Jeremy. **the Squip shocked him, and Jeremy wanted to scream.

_ Hey, can we talk about this new ‘subtly support the assholes’ strategy? Because I’m not thrilled with it! _

**Later, Jeremy.**

Jeremy ducked behind the wall but didn’t leave.

“Leave me alone.” Jenna said.

“Oh, sure, sure sweetheart. Why don’t I just call your friends in that phone of yours and ask them to come get you? Here.”

“Hey, give it back!”

“Oh, where are their numbers? Can you tell me? Oh that’s right, they don’t care.”

Then he heard what sounded suspiciously like a shatter.

“My phone!”

“Oopsie daisy.”

Jeremy gritted his teeth.

Brian appeared a second later. “Oh, look! You’re here for the show? How was it?” He walked casually away.

Jeremy glared at the Squip. _ Happy now? _

He walked around the corner. “Jenna, are you okay?” he asked.

Jenna was holding what once was her phone. The screen was shattered and the phone case was broken in two.

Jenna sat down and leaned back against a set of lockers. Jeremy walked over and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder.

The next morning, despite the Squip’s insistence otherwise, Jeremy slipped a note into Jenna’s locker with $100 from his dad’s wallet (hey, it’s not like his dad was trying hard lately anyway, so he couldn’t feel too guilty) and a note that said ‘For a new phone’ with his name and phone number on it. Jenna tried to give it back, but he refused.

By mid-week, the whole school had decided they hated him enough that Chloe was better than him, even the people who hated _ her, _ and everyone was now rooting for Chloe to snap and beat the guy up.

Not really an okay thing to be rooting for, but no one seemed to care. Jeremy would have done it himself, but the Squip forbade it.

And Jeremy was pretty sure that at this point if someone, _ anyone, _ gave her permission to go nuts on the guy, Chloe would snap like a twig.

That someone ended up being him.

They had all gathered in Pinkberry that Thursday— all meaning Chloe, Brooke, Jake, Jeremy, and Jenna— due to all of them sensing that Chloe definitely needed something to help her calm down.

Unfortunately, about halfway through their frozen yogurt the asshole himself walked in.

Chloe’s hands clenched around the table.

“Deep breaths Chlo,” Brooke said, rubbing her back as Chloe attempted to follow her advice.

Jeremy and Jenna exchanged a glance as Jake sighed and they all moved as best they could to block Brian from Chloe’s view.

Didn’t stop any of them from hearing him though. He and the guy with him were currently discussing how many losers they had punched that week. Over frozen yogurt.

Which was just baffling on so many levels.

“Okay, the only reason you got to more people than me is because I spent half the week chasing that Mitchell kid.”

Jeremy glanced at Jenna. _ Mitchell? _ he mouthed. Jenna shrugged.

Apparently the lapdog was just as confused, because he asked “Mitchell?”

“Yeah. Mell. Mitchell Mell or something like that.”

Jeremy’s blood ran cold.

“Finally caught him yesterday and gave him a black eye.” Brian continued, but Jeremy could barely hear him anymore.

**Jeremy, you should not—**

_ Shut. Up. _

“Hey, Chloe?” Jeremy breathed.

“Yeah?” Chloe growled in between heaving breaths as she bent the table with her hands.

“Rip his head off.”

Chloe all but leaped over the table and tackled Brian in one move.

“Jeremy!” Brooke cried. “Why would you—”

She was cut off by Brian’s cry of pain, and Jeremy decided he felt absolutely no remorse.

“Ooh, that looks like it hurt!” Jenna cried, pulling out her new phone. “I forgive you, Jeremy!”

“Jeremy, Chloe’s gonna get in trouble!” Brooke called.

Jeremy hadn’t looked away from Chloe digging her nails into Brian’s eyes. “I’ll take the fall.” he said casually. “Don’t post that, Jenna.”

“Are you kidding? This is for _ me!” _

Jeremy’s Squip was to the side, a hand pressed to its forehead. **Jeremy, that was not smart.**

Jeremy shot his Squip so deadly a glare that it actually blinked in surprise, for once not caring who saw. _ We are going to talk later. _

A second later Chloe walked back over to the table with a sigh, looking more relaxed than she had all week.

“Oh man, that felt _ so _ good. Thanks for that, Jeremy.”

“Anytime.”

…

“Okay.” Jeremy may or may not have grabbed his bedside table lamp and was now using it like an interrogation light right on his Squip. “So where’s Michael?”

The Squip raised an eyebrow. It looked exactly like his mother’s ‘Do you comprehend how stupid you sound right now’ face. **I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.** it said lightly. **And you shouldn’t talk to me out loud, Jeremy.**

“Is my dad home?”

**No.**

“Then I’ll do what I _ damn well please! _ You heard Brian. He was talking about giving Michael a black eye.”

**Brian was talking about someone named Mitchell.**

“Oh cut the _ crap! _ ” Jeremy screamed, throwing the lamp on the bed. “I have not seen Michael for—” he took a moment to count on his fingers. “Seven months! And I have had no idea what happened to him. I’ve gotten no calls, no texts, I haven’t seen him at school, and I haven’t really known _ what _ to think before now but whatever happened it clearly had something to do with you so where. Is. _ Michael?!” _

**Jeremy, calm down.** the Squip said. It sighed. **It’s called optic nerve blocking.**

“What does that mean?” Jeremy asked, still glaring at the Squip.

**I have access to your optic nerves. I have been blocking Michael from your field of vision.**

“And what the _ fuck _ gave you the right to do that?!” Jeremy spat.

**Jeremy, I was just trying to protect you.**

“Protect— _ protect me? _ He’s my best friend, you piece of shit! I don’t think you understand, I—” Jeremy sniffed. “I needed him. Mom was gone, Dad is still not helping at all, I just— I needed someone who actually cared about me and would be there for me. And you took that from me.” Jeremy sat down on his bed scrubbed at his eyes as tears started to run down his face.

A couple seconds later, he felt an artificial version of his mother’s hand on his shoulder. Jeremy jerked away on instinct.

The Squip sighed. **Okay, Jeremy.** it said sadly. **I will turn optic nerve blocking off, just know that I will not hold anything against you.**

“Oh, thank goodness, I was _ really _ worried about that,” Jeremy snapped, still trying to stop himself from crying. “I’m finding Michael tomorrow and then I’m going to buy some Mountain Dew Red and turn you the fuck off.”

The Squip sighed again. **If that is what you want, Jeremy, of course I will not stop you.**

“Good. About the best thing you’ve ever done.” Jeremy grumbled, walking over to his bed to go to sleep, because he was exhausted after that. “Now leave me alone for the night.”

**Jeremy.** his Squip said softly. **You can get as mad at me as you want, but I won’t leave you alone right now.**

Jeremy growled through his teeth and shoved his pillow over his ears.

…

Michael still wasn’t anywhere to be found at school the next morning, and he glared at the Squip who raised its hands and assured him that it had turned it off.

Jeremy kept an eye out for Michael in his classes, because apparently he had no idea if Michael was in any or not, but he didn’t see him. He was getting angrier with the Squip as lunchtime arrived—

Until he was walking towards his table and saw a familiar red hoodie out of the corner of his eye.

“Michael,” Jeremy whispered, putting his tray down and ignoring everyone else’s questions as he walked off.

Michael was sitting at their normal table by himself, headphones on, nodding along to some song playing over the speakers.

Jeremy started grinning at that. Bob Marley, probably.

God, he had missed Michael.

He did notice that one of Michael’s eyes looked swollen, which made him a little angrier at Brian, but overall nothing could bring his mood down right now.

But before he could take another step, another boy practically bounced up to the table, and Michael beamed up at him.

“Wait, is that… Richard Goranski?” Jeremy questioned under his breath.

**Jeremy.** his Squip said quietly, reappearing over his shoulder. **Please, can I explain something to you?**

Jeremy glanced back over to see his Squip actually looking upset.

Over at the table, Michael laughed at something Rich said.

_ Yeah… okay. _ Jeremy said quietly in his mind.

He walked out of the lunchroom. Michael didn’t even look at him as he did so.

The Squip led him outside, underneath the football field bleachers.

_ Um… why here? It’s freezing. _

**You’re going to want some privacy.**

Jeremy turned to face his Squip and crossed his arms, as much for warmth as irritation. _ What’s going on? Why was Michael sitting with Rich Goranski, are they friends now? _

**Jeremy. Please understand, Michael is not the kind of person who needs a lot of friends.**

_ What in the world is that supposed to mean? _

**Michael would be genuinely happy with only one best friend.**

_ Uh, yeah. That’s me, what are you referring to? _

**No, Jeremy. Not you.**

Jeremy stared at the Squip in bafflement. _ What are you talking about? _

**Yes, Michael is indeed the kind of person who needs only one friend. But there is nothing in the rulebook saying that friend has to be you.**

Jeremy’s eyes widened. _ Um, excuse me? I don’t like what you’re implying. _

**Jeremy.** his Squip said. **Michael needs one friend. ** ** _Any_ ** ** one friend. Rich works just as well as you in this case.**

_ What… are you saying? _

His Squip sighed. **Jeremy.** it said softly. **This is precisely what I didn’t want to tell you. Michael… replaced you. In about three days.**

Jeremy stepped back. _ No. No no no. He— he wouldn’t— he wouldn’t. Michael wouldn’t do that. _

**Jeremy. Did he look particularly like he missed you?**

_ Well, no, but it’s been— it’s been seven months. _

**And you still think about him every day. The same cannot be said of him. He looked perfectly content to be sitting there with Rich, didn’t he?**

_ He… yes, he did. But that doesn’t mean— _

**Jeremy.** his Squip sighed again. **I am so sorry you had to find out this way, or at all, but Michael decided pretty quickly that he likes Rich more than you.**

Jeremy could feel his eyes welling up. _ But— but I’ve known him for— for ten years. _

**And your mother knew you longer. ** the Squip said softly, gesturing gently down to its form. **She gave ** ** _birth_ ** ** to you. If she could decide she didn’t like you, why not Michael? After all, we both already know that you’re a worthless loser.**

Jeremy’s eyes welled up even more and tears started to spill down his cheeks. “But— but I love him,” he whispered aloud. “He’s— he’s— my favorite person.”

**Well,** the Squip whispered back. **You aren’t his.**

Jeremy stumbled backwards until he ran into a support beam holding up the bleachers, and then sank down until he was sitting with his knees tucked into his chest. He buried his head in his arms.

And he screamed into his knees.


	2. Chapter 2

Holy shit, Chloe was a _ fantastic _ kisser. Jake had only himself to blame for waiting this long.

Hopefully they could move beyond kissing sooner rather than later, but the janitor catching them in the closet in between classes meant they had to retreat to outside, underneath the football bleachers. A terrible cliché, freezing cold, and unfortunately also the best place to get privacy during school hours.

They were still more or less pressed together on the way up there, and that was only interrupted by a very loud, very irritating noise as he approached the bleachers.

Jake pulled back, causing Chloe to whine a little, but he held up his hand and she paused too.

“Is someone— screaming?!” Jake asked, suddenly growing very concerned as his brain went through all the horrible situations that could be causing such a sound.

He and Chloe both immediately followed the sound closer to the bleachers to find—

Jeremy. Jeremy was half screaming, half sobbing underneath the bleachers.

“Jeremy?” Jake asked, as Chloe actually gasped next to him.

Jeremy didn’t seem to have heard him, so Jake walked forward slowly, and put a hand on Jeremy's arm.

Jeremy yelped and jumped backwards, nearly slamming into the beam he was sitting against.

The next second after he saw Jake his face crumbled and he leaned forward and started sobbing into his arms.

Jake immediately wanted to find whoever had done this to his best friend and beat them to a pulp. And then beat them to a pulp again. And then kill them.

“Jeremy, what,” he whispered. “What _ happened? _ What’s wrong?” He gently reached for Jeremy’s arms again only for Jeremy to shove him away— but the next second he threw himself forward towards Jake. Jake caught him, and he vaguely saw Chloe sitting down next to him, but mostly he focused on Jeremy.

“Michael,” was Jeremy’s choked out explanation. “I found Michael.”

“You found— did something happen to him?” Jake asked.

Jeremy screamed into Jake’s chest.

“Okay,” Jake said. “We’re leaving. I’ll take you back to my house. Chloe, tell everyone I took Jeremy home sick, and get Steven to drive us.”

Chloe nodded and turned and ran towards the school. Jake, with some difficulty, managed to pick Jeremy up and shift him so he was carrying him bridal style. Jeremy barely even seemed to react aside from burying his face in Jake’s chest.

Eventually Jake got Jeremy to the parking lot unseen, where Steven was waiting in his car.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked Jake, climbing out.

“I don’t know.” Jake said, setting Jeremy in the backseat, who curled up in a ball. Jake climbed in next to him so Jeremy could have a person nearby. “But Steven, I swear to God, you tell _ anyone _ about this—”

“Hey.” Steven held up his hands as he climbed back into the front seat. “This is clearly something serious and personal. I’m not an asshole.”

“Good.”

Ten minutes later Steven pulled up to Jake’s house, said he hoped Jeremy felt better, and let them out as he drove back to school.

Jake carried Jeremy into the house and set him on his couch in the living room.

“Hey.” he said softly. “Can I get you anything, or…”

Jeremy mumbled out something that Jake didn’t understand, and shook his head.

“Do you want me to stay, or do you want to be alone?”

Jeremy grabbed Jake’s arm and squeezed it like he was worried he’d disappear, so Jake sat down next to him. Jeremy wrapped himself around Jake and buried his head in his chest again.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jake asked, wrapping his arms around Jeremy’s back.

Jeremy mumbled something that sounded vaugely like “Later,” so Jake stayed there with him for well over an hour as Jeremy cried until Jake was honestly worried if he was breathing enough.

_ Finally _, Jeremy pushed himself backwards so he was leaning against the couch and sniffed, rubbing at his now very puffy red eyes.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jake asked again, trying not to break the glass that Jeremy seemed to be made of right now.

Jeremy sniffed again, looked up at Jake, and finally wheezed out a story about Michael and someone named Richard Goranski who he was apparently _ replaced _ with.

“Jeremy,” Jake breathed. “How did you learn all this?”

Jeremy hesitated, and glanced over his shoulder. He almost seemed like he was looking at something, but before Jake could be sure, Jeremy spoke again.

“He told me.” The statement was forced out weakly.

He told him… _ Michael _ told him all of this?! Holy shit, what the fuck was _ wrong _ with that asshole?

Jake managed to take a deep breath so he didn’t say anything to make it worse, and leaned forward to start rubbing Jeremy’s back again.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he whispered.

Jeremy gave a disbelieving laugh and then buried his head in his hands.

“I know. But someday it’s gonna be okay, alright?”

Jeremy said nothing to that.

…

Eventually, Jeremy calmed down just enough that Jake was able to walk out of the room and order some Sbarro’s for dinner, and managed to convince someone to deliver pizza after a ten minute argument. When he came back into the room Jeremy was muttering to himself.

“I know, but what if—”

He stopped. Jake waited by the door to see what exactly he was doing.

Jeremy was silent for another ten seconds and eventually ducked his head into his knees. “Okay.” he whispered, sounding like the life had drained out of him. “Okay. Optic nerve blocking on.”

Jake must have misheard him, because that made no sense.

“Okay,” he called, and Jeremy looked over at him. Jake paused for a minute due to the fact that he did look almost lifeless. “Pizza’s coming in a bit. Do you wanna watch a movie or something?”

Jeremy mumbled something incoherent and put his head back on his knees.

Okay, Jake was seriously concerned now. And shouldn’t his dad have called by now wondering where he was?

The pizza arrived about half an hour later, and Jake gave the very annoyed girl a huge tip and brought the pizza to the table.

“I got pepperoni, cause I didn’t know what you wanted and pretty much everyone likes pepperoni, right?” he asked, opening the box.

Jeremy looked up at Jake. The best way Jake could describe him right now was that he looked numb.

He was bordering on panicking now. Or not panicking, but really concerned because Jeremy always, _ always _ had some kind of energy, even if it was nervous energy, and if he actually knew who Michael Mell was and what he looked like he would’ve literally been making plans to find him on Monday and kill him—

Yeah. Yeah panicking was the right word.

“Jeremy come on,” Jake borderline pleaded. “You have to eat something. You haven’t eaten since—” Oh shoot, he wasn’t even there at lunch. “Since breakfast.”

Jeremy slowly pushed his head off of his knees and reached for a piece of pizza. He took a bite and wrinkled his nose. “This is the worst pizza I’ve ever had.”

Normally Jake would have been pissed about that comment, but at the moment he was too relieved that Jeremy displayed an emotion.

“Well, eat it anyway.” Jake said, grabbing his own piece. “It’s my favorite, so I’ll eat most of it for you. You need to eat two pieces.”

“What are you, my mom?” Jermey asked, but apparently mentioning his mom made him think of not good things, because he looked away and seemed to retreat into himself again.

“Hey, Jeremy?” Jake said. “Look, I’m eating the worst pizza in the world.”

Jeremy looked back at Jake and sullenly took another bite of pizza.

“Come on, man. You’re kinda scaring me.”

Jeremy took another bite. “When we were seven,” he said quietly. “We had this fight about what flavor of 7-11 slushie was best. And it seemed like the biggest deal at the time, so we didn’t talk for like three days. He approached me first, and by the time he did I was sure he hated me. And this kinda feels like that. Or at least it did at first, just— like about a million times worse. I don’t know, I just never thought he’d actually…” he trailed off.

Jake was in the oddest mood of wishing Jeremy would start crying. It would be better than watching him take bites of pizza while staring at the coffee table looking empty. But how was he supposed to get him to react to something?

“Hey.”

Jeremy didn’t look up, so Jake threw a piece of pizza at his head. It hit the side of his face.

He jerked away in shock. “What the hell, man?!”

“I don’t know, you were looking like— like this lifeless empty thing, and it was freaking me out!”

Jeremy scowled, and thank God, that was better. “So you throw pizza at my head? Dude, I need to shower now.”

“Go ahead. You can use one of the many many towels up in my bathroom. I’ll loan you some pajamas. I just did the laundry yesterday.”

“I’m staying here?”

“If you want. I mean, I know Saturday’s the Sabbath, so if you have to go—”

“Who the fuck cares.”

Jake blinked in surprise, and Jeremy shoved the last of the pizza in his mouth and stormed towards the stairs.

Jake looked after him in concern.

He left his phone on the table, which Jake grabbed. He had won Jeremy’s passcode with a bet back in November, and luckily for him, Jeremy hadn’t changed it.

He went to his contacts and found one for his mom, his dad, Michael (who Jake had to stop himself from deleting), Jenna, and him. He hit the call button for Jeremy’s dad and put his phone up to his ear.

Voicemail.

“Hey, Mr. Heere. This is Jake, Jeremy’s best friend? Jeremy’s staying here for the night, and um… he’s not doing so great. If you could just check in on him when he gets home, I’d appreciate it.”

Jake hung up and set the phone down, then stress-ate another piece of pizza.

…

Jeremy’s dad never called back, and Jeremy spent most of Saturday and Sunday on Jake’s couch watching TV. He ate pizza that Jake replaced every now and then, and Jake was wondering how long this would last.

Jake went to Jeremy’s house after he fell asleep Saturday night and grabbed clothes for the rest of the weekend and school on Monday. Jeremy’s dad was sitting on the couch watching his own TV, and Jake was struck by how much they looked alike— and in the next second that terrified him, because both Jeremy and his dad were clearly not doing well.

“Um, Mr. Heere?” Jake called.

Mr. Heere looked over and blinked at Jake for a moment. “You’re… Jake.” he said eventually.

Jesus Christ.

“Yeah. Uh, Jeremy’s staying at my house for the weekend.”

“Alright. Make sure he gets to school on time.”

“Uh. Yep.”

Mr. Heere turned back to the TV.

On the way back to his house Jake started planning a checklist in his head. First up, make sure Jeremy eats enough, sleeps enough, and bathes. Changing his underwear would be great too. Basic needs were the most important, Jake had learned that pretty quickly last summer. And food was the most important thing, second only to water.

Mental health came next. Try and assess his mental condition and get reactions out of him in any way he could.

Maybe that wasn’t the best strategy, but he wasn’t exactly a professional. However, it was obvious that this was some kind of depression, and though Jake didn’t think permanent, capital-D Depression would onset this quickly (although he’d admit he had no real idea there either), he had to make sure Jeremy was taken care of for however long this lasted.

Oh yeah, and it would probably be a good idea to take care of himself too.

Sunday passed the same way Saturday had, with the exception of the marked improvement that Jeremy went to the kitchen to make himself food other than pizza.

Chloe texted Jake halfway through the day to ask if Jeremy was alright (to which Jake didn’t respond), but other than that he spent most of the day next to Jeremy on the couch, who leaned on him like he couldn’t stand up on his own. By the time Sunday night came, Jake was seriously considering keeping him home from school on Monday.

However, Monday morning took him completely by surprise.

“Morning, Jakey D!”

Jake jerked awake on the couch and groaned before stretching out a crick in his neck. “Jeremy? What are you—”

“I made breakfast.” Jeremy shoved a plate with an omelette on it in Jake’s face.

“You did what? Huh?”

“Come on, I let you sleep in, but now you’ve gotta get going or we’ll be late for school.”

Jake sat up and took in Jeremy’s appearance. He had showered, he was wearing the clothes Jake brought over, his hair was brushed, and he was smiling. There was something under his eyes Jake couldn’t place, but Jeremy turned away before he could be sure.

They arrived at school and Jeremy had a pep in his walk.

Chloe caught Jake’s eye across the hallway and raised an eyebrow in almost disbelief.

Jake shrugged back at her.

He left Jeremy at his locker and went to his own. A second later he was joined by Chloe.

“Okay, what the hell?” she asked. “When you didn’t respond, I assumed that meant he wasn’t doing great!”

“He _ wasn’t.” _ Jake said. “Until literally this morning. He woke me up with an omelette and told me to get ready for school.”

Chloe but her lip. “You sure he wasn’t putting on a façade to try and make you feel better?”

Jake opened his mouth, then paused, because now that he thought about it that was a serious possibility.

“Okay, yeah. Let’s go check on him.” Jake said.

Chloe nodded, and they both walked back towards the hallway where Jeremy’s locker was.

“Ow! What the hell, man?!”

Jake jumped a little and both he and Chloe glanced around the corner—

To find Jeremy shoving a kid against a locker.

That was Richard Goranski.

The person that Michael apparently replaced him with.

Jake jerked back behind the wall. Oh, shit. Shouldn’t they do something now?

Chloe looked at Jake, and Jake looked back.

“Hey, stop it!” Rich called.

“I said shut up!” Jeremy snapped, in a very un-Jeremy voice.

Chloe and Jake looked at each other in surprise and concern, but neither of them moved.

There was another smack and bang that sounded incredibly painful, which was confirmed when Rich let out a pained groan.

“Now stay out of my way from now on.” Jeremy snapped, and stormed past Jake and Chloe without noticing either of them.

Chloe looked at Jake again.

Jake but his lip and motioned with a finger to follow him, and Chloe looked at him like he was crazy, but she did.

They ended up at a table in the library.

“_What _ was that?” Chloe exclaimed.

“I don’t—” Jake took a breath and tried to organize his thoughts.

“Okay, so first of all,” he said. “That was very clearly not like Jeremy.”

“Uh, no duh!” Chloe exclaimed. “Jeremy wouldn’t decide to suddenly beat someone up who has done _ nothing _ to him!”

“That’s not entirely true.” Jake muttered.

Chloe gave him a look. “What do you mean?”

Jake quickly explained what Jeremy said had happened with Michael, after making Chloe promise not to say anything to anyone.

“Geez.” Chloe whispered, shaking her head in what looked like genuine sympathy. “Poor Jeremy.” She shook her head again. “Okay, I get it now. Grief can do crazy things.”

Jake blinked. “You think he’s grieving?”

“I don’t think saying so would be too far off.”

“So… I don’t know, should we call him out?”

Chloe looked at him. “When your parents left you joined almost every extracurricular in the school and threw dozens of house parties. I wouldn’t say you’re the best person to call Jeremy out on shitty coping techniques.”

“Hey!”

“It’s true, Jake. But someone should probably say something to him about it—”

“No.” Jake cut her off suddenly. “No, don’t.”

Chloe stared at him. “What?”

“We don’t do anything.”

Chloe gaped. “Are— are you serious?”

“Chloe,” Jake said softly. “_ Anything _ would be better than the shell of a human he was all weekend. And this is what seems to have snapped him out of it.”

“Anything would be better. Including an actual bully?”

Jake looked at her in silence for a second. “Yes.”

Chloe looked down at the table. “Jeremy made us all better people.” she said quietly. “He’s funny, and clever, and so… incredibly kind. It’s a little under the surface, but if you get to know him even a little it’s obvious. We’re closer with Jenna now and I think about other people more and Brooke seems more… secure. And so do you.”

“That’s why we can’t lose him to this.”

Chloe looked up in disbelief. “We lose him either way, Jake. That?” she gestured randomly in a random direction. “That wasn’t Jeremy. That was someone pretending to be Jeremy and obviously doing a very bad job. Like— like Brian. That was practically Brian.”

“What are you talking about? It’s still Jeremy.”

Chloe looked away. “I’m not so sure.”

“You sound ridiculous right now.”

Chloe glared at him. “Wow, thanks asshole.” She stood up. “Fine. I will not stop Jeremy from relentlessly bullying someone for no reason. But I will just have you know, that _ this _ is the kind of thing that made us bad people.”

Chloe stormed off, and Jake watched her go.


	3. Chapter 3

Brooke was so sick of Chloe sometimes.

For a while, she’d honestly thought things were changing. Chloe had seemed to be listening to her more. Jeremy was an excellent addition to their group, and Brooke loved him to death. Jenna was getting closer to them, and she was such a sweet person that Brooke loved to talk to.

And then suddenly, everything fell apart in an instant.

Jeremy was all of a sudden much more rude, bitter, and asshole-ish (was that a word?). Chloe seemed to be following in his footsteps. Jenna was back to just being a person who sat at their lunch table and delivered gossip. Jake seemed like he was trying to hold both himself and everyone else together simultaneously, and horrendously failing.

And no one was paying attention to her!

Wow. That sounded so incredibly selfless.

But Brooke honestly needed someone to talk to right now. Because in the middle of all of this  _ mess— _

Jason was cheating on her.

Brooke broke up with him as soon as she found out, and Jason barely even tried to explain, cementing him in her mind as a stupid asshole who was gross, picked his nose, and drooled a lot. (Okay, that last part may have been bitterness changing his image in her mind.)

Normally, Chloe would be dissing him with her, and they could sit in her living room with Pinkberry talking shit about him and rewatching “Friends” for the millionth time.

But Chloe was too focused on whatever the fuck had happened with Jeremy, and Brooke was honestly starting to get real sick of him.

Oh, and of Chloe. Her too.

It wasn’t until Thursday that Brooke snapped. What caused it was, of course, Jason. Again.

_ Asshole. _

She was walking down the hallway, following Chloe, about to finally tell her about Jason, when Chloe had spotted that Rich loser and went to try to talk to Jeremy on the other side of the hall before he noticed him.

And then Brooke had spotted Jason.

He was strutting down the hallway wrapped around Ashley Connovin, and both of them were making super gross heart eyes at each other.

The two of them were so super gross with their super gross heart eyes and super gross clothes and super gross nose picking and—

And Brooke was running out the back door of the school.

She found herself sitting underneath the football bleachers, shivering and crying, like a loser. Her hair was falling around her knees, and she would have felt like one of those anime girls if she didn’t look absolutely disgusting when she cried.

“Are you okay?”

Brooke sniffed and lifted her head up miserably. Jeremy Heere was standing in a coat at the edge of the bleachers.

Fantastic.

“What do you want?” Brooke asked, glaring at him out of the corner of his eye. “I thought Chloe was telling you off about why hurting losers is bad again.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Chloe was asking me about Geometry. Is there something you’d like to say to me, Brooke?”

“I’d like you to crawl back to whatever sad hole you came out of and rot there.”

“Wow. Did I do something to you I’m not aware of?”

“Why would you pay attention to me long enough to do something to me?”

Jeremy was silent for a minute, and Brooke looked away.

Then she heard footsteps, and Jeremy walked over and sat down next to her. “Vent.” he said.

Brooke looked at him. “What?”

“Go on. Vent.”

Brooke scoffed, and glared away in silence.

For about three more seconds.

“My boyfriend cheated on me.” she snapped. She paused. “Ex-boyfriend.” she corrected. “And everyone’s so focused on whatever the fuck happened with you and your problems that no one cares. And that sucks because I really need someone to talk to right now. But no one cares about me. No one ever cares about my problems.” She scrubbed at her eyes. “God, I sound like a selfish bitch.”

“You absolutely do not.” Jeremy said gently, and woah, that sounded like before-Jeremy. Brooke looked over, and he wasn’t smiling at her, but he also wasn’t giving her that pity look. “I get it.” He took off his coat and offered it to her.

Brooke wrinkled her nose even as she grabbed the coat and put it on. “You  _ get it.” _

“My best friend— well.” Jeremy looked away. “I guess Ex-Best Friend. You know how I haven’t seen Michael all year?”

Brooke nodded.

“I found him. He…” Jeremy looked out in front of him and got a far away look in his eyes. “He was hanging out with someone else, and he told me— he told me he didn’t care about me anymore. That he didn’t want to be friends anymore.” It was Jeremy’s turn to wipe his eyes. “Now I sound like a little kid.”

“You absolutely do not.” Brooke echoed softly. “That’s…  _ horrible, _ Jeremy.”

“Yeah.” Jeremy said. “I don’t know. I guess he’s just…” he trailed off.

“Not who you thought he was.” Brooke finished.

Jeremy looked at her.

“You do get it.” she said.

Jeremy opened his arms in an offering, and Brooke wrapped him in a hug of her own as much as accepting his. “Sorry I told you to crawl into a hole and die.” she said.

“Sorry I made you feel like no one cared about your problems.” Jeremy said.

Brooke looked at him as something suddenly clicked. “Was Michael hanging out with Rich Goranski?” she asked. “Is that why you suddenly hate him so much?”

Jeremy looked away, confirming her suspicions.

“Jeremy,” Brooke said. “You know that’s not exactly the healthiest way to deal with things.”

“I know.” Jeremy muttered, and he sounded sincere.

“Maybe you should leave him alone, Jer.” Brooke said.

Jermey flinched. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Um, okay… Jer-bear.”

Jeremy snorted. Then he sighed. “I don’t know if stopping would be entirely my decision.” He looked around. “I really shouldn’t even be doing this right now.”

Brooke gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know if you’d understand.”

“So explain it to me.”

Jeremy shook his head. “I can’t.”

“Jeremy.” Brooke said. “Most of the time, I feel like no one listens to me. And I get the sense that you know what that feels like too.”

Jeremy nodded slowly.

“So, for as long as this weird-ass beginning of a friendship goes on, and whatever it grows into, I promise, if nothing else, to always listen to you, and trust that you know how you feel better than I do. So, if you don’t want to explain, I also won’t make you, promise. But talking really helps me. It’s why I’ve felt like shit these past couple days.”

Jeremy sighed, and bit his lip in thought. “There’s… someone,” he started slowly. “Who helps me make a lot of decisions when I need it. And this was one of them.”

Brooke narrowed her eyes in concern. “Jeremy, that doesn’t sound… good.” she said.

Jeremy looked at her in confusion. “Why not?”

“Someone who makes decisions for you?”

“No, it’s not like that. They help me. And if I don’t understand something they help me understand.”

“But what if you don’t like what they decide?”

“Oh, then they back off. That’s happened before.”

Brooke nodded in relief. “Oh, okay. So more like someone you go to for advice.”

Jeremy nodded back.

“But it sounds to me like you’re not thrilled about the decision about Rich. Maybe talk to them about that?”

Jeremy nodded slowly. “I think I will.” he said.

Brooke smiled at him.

“But… just so you know, that was originally all me. It’s just… so much easier to be angry than it is to be hurt.”

“I get that.” Brooke said. “I have been projecting my hurt from Jason onto you as anger.”

Jeremy blinked at her. “That was one hell of an introspection, Brooke.”

Brooke gave a mock bow. “Thank you, thank you.”

Jeremy laughed.

“Hey, I have an idea.” Brooke continued. “What if after school every day, we come here and talk and vent about anything we need to?”

Jeremy lit up, but then paused, looked away at something, and sighed. “I can’t.” he said. “I have swim practice almost every day after school.”

Brooke sighed in disappointment. “Okay.” she said. A second later she smiled again and grabbed Jeremy's phone.

“Open it.” she held it up in front of him. Jeremy did so, and she went to his contacts and added her number. “And here.” she opened her phone and handed it over, and Jeremy did the same. “We can text or call each other anytime, and then no matter what, we listen. Promise.” she held out her hand.

Jeremy smiled, though for a second he looked almost like he was in pain. It flashed away before Brooke could be sure, though, and Jeremy shook her hand back. “Promise.” he affirmed.

With that, Brooke stood up and stretched. “Well, my makeup is ruined and I’m going home. Wanna come with?”

Jeremy flinched, but smiled at her. “Yes.” he said, and they both started what would no doubt be a long and cold but not unenjoyable walk home (Steven was sick that day).

…

_ Jer-bear _ : Hey so

_ Jer-bear _ : I kinda need advice on something

Brooke glanced down at where her phone was laying next to her on her bed. She grinned. Her English homework could wait, anyway.

_ Brookie _ : Aww, im now included in ur very small circle of advice givers

_ Brookie _ : Im touched

_ Jer-bear _ : Don’t let it go to your head

Brooke laughed to herself.

It had been only a couple days, but it did kinda feel like the deal she made with Jeremy was very much one-sided, and it wasn’t often that he asked her for advice. She often asked him things, however, and he had reassured her that he wasn’t at all annoyed.

However, Jeremy hadn’t stopped bothering Rich. Brooke didn’t want to force him to stop, so she reminded Jeremy that she was always there to talk and kept tabs on the situation. It did make her feel a little guilty, specifically in regards to Rich, but she wasn’t sure what else she could do. She didn’t want to make Jeremy even angrier, or worse, push him away. She had been getting the sense that he felt just as lonely as she sometimes did, and that both of them really needed the friendship they now had, despite them not bringing that aspect up.

Her phone buzzed again.

_Jer-bear_: So

_ Jer-bear _ : Have you ever been annoyed by Chloe and not known how to tell her

_ Brookie _ : Jesus Jer-bear look who ur talking 2

_ Brookie _ : I mean I love Chloe

_ Brookie _ : But yes thats happened

_ Jer-bear _ : Okay, its just like she’s glued to my side

_ Jer-bear _ : And I love her but I need some space sometimes

Brooke bit her lip. Chloe was probably worried about him, the same way they all were. And when Chloe was worried about someone, her strategy was “hovering mama bear” (although she would  _ kill _ Brooke if she referred to it that way).

But at the same time, if Jeremy said he didn’t want to talk about it, he didn’t have to talk about it.

_ Brookie _ : Im gonna be honest with u

_ Brookie _ : Ur gonna have 2 be straight with her

_ Jer-bear _ : UGH but that requires effort

_ Jer-bear _ : Can’t you do it?

_ Brookie _ : Srry Jer-bear but it would be impossible 4 me 2 be straight w/ Chloe

_ Jer-bear _ : Why?

_ Jer-bear _ : Oh

_ Brookie _ : Welcome to the present Jer-bear. It is true, not everyone is straight

_ Jer-bear _ : You’re gay?

_ Brookie _ : I dont really use a label actually

_ Brookie _ : Nothing fits

_ Brookie _ : But more than one gender

_ Jer-bear _ : Oh ok cool

_ Jer-bear _ : So is that a no on talking to Chloe

_ Brookie _ : U need 2 do it urself or she wont listen

_ Jer-bear _ : Ugh

_ Jer-bear _ : Effort

_ Jer-bear _ : Fine

_ Jer-bear _ : Also has anyone ever told you that you have awful texting grammar

_ Brookie _ : Thx u


	4. Chapter 4

Rich woke up to hands coming down over his eyes. “Guess who.” came a familiar voice.

Rich hummed in thought. “Oh gee, I don’t know. Could it perhaps be the person I share a bedroom with, and also the one whose very recognizable voice just said ‘Guess who?’”

But then, to his surprise, a completely different voice laughed, and the person who pulled his hands away was—

“Matt?”

“It was a team effort.” Michael proclaimed from his spot next to Matt. “Happy birthday, nerd!”

“MATT!” Rich cried, throwing himself at his brother. “You came back from college just for my birthday?”

“_ Just _ for your birthday? Excuse me?” Matt asked as he hugged Rich. “This is a momentous, celebratory-worthy occasion!”

“Stop with the big words, I’m the writer here.” Rich said. “Oh my gosh, it’s so great to see you! Wait.” Rich looked at both of them. “How did… what time is it?”

Michael grinned at him. “3AM! I never went to sleep! Only way I could be up earlier than you!”

“Ah, yes, my brother. The morningest or morning people.” Matt said, ruffling his hair.

“You are a disgrace to the english language.”

Michael snorted. “The english language is a disgrace to the english language.”

“Mikey, you need to go to sleep, we have _ school _ today.”

“I’ll sleep during lunch.”

“That is a _ terrible _ idea. You shouldn’t do that at least until Brian leaves.”

“Please, Brian’s left people alone since Chloe ripped his head off. I’m more worried about you.”

“Wait, what?” Matt asked. “What’s happening? Are you okay?”

Michael looked away, and Rich rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, so you know about the stuff with Brian already, but um— you know how Jeremy was Mikey’s best friend since Kindergarten until—”

“Until he made ‘better friends’ and left me in the dust.” Michael snapped.

“Michael, we still don’t know that.” Rich pointed out, for only about the millionth time.

“We know he hasn’t talked to me since July, and is now bullying the only other friend I’ve made. Clearly he has decided I don’t mean shit to him anymore.”

“We don’t know. Because you haven’t talked to him, something else could be going on.”

“Like what?”

“Maybe someone’s threatening him.” Matt said. “Or hurting him. Something could have changed.”

“I was gone for a week in July. What could have changed that much? Besides, Jeremy wouldn’t do that. If someone is threatening him, I’m the first person he’ll come to for help.” Michael paused. “Or, I guess I _ was.” _ he muttered, looking down.

Rich and Matt exchanged a glance. _ Is he okay? _ Matt mouthed.

Rich shook his head. _ No. _

“But, wait.” Rich said, trying to change the subject enough that Michael could talk about Jeremy without feeling like shit. “What do you mean Chloe ripped Brian’s head off?”

Michael blinked at him. “I mean that that’s what happened.”

“I thought that was Jeremy. He confessed to it and shit.”

Michael gave him a look. “When pigs fly.”

Rich shrugged, admitting that he probably knew best. “Yeah, okay. But why Chloe, as opposed to like, Jake or something?”

Michael started counting off on his fingers. “Jeremy is a weakling despite whatever extra muscles he has now, Brooke is angel in the terms of hurting people and would never do so, Jenna is more of a social life ruiner and I don’t think she could beat someone up if she tried, and Rich. I know you love to think that your crush is a superhero, but I honestly don’t think Jake has the guts.”

Rich blinked at him. “Wow.”

“Geez, you seem to know a lot about the popular kids for someone who isn’t friends with them.” Matt said.

“I stalked them on social media for a while trying to find out what happened to Jeremy. And does this mean Rich just admitted he does have a crush on Jake Dillinger?”

Both Michael and Matt leaned very close to his face, and Rich could feel his face heating up. “Come on, you guys. You came here for my birthday, you don’t get to make fun of me.”

“Oh, contraire. It is one of the many ways we show you we love you,” Matt said, pulling Rich’s head toward him and proceeding to give him a noogie.

“Hey, quit it!” Rich snapped, shoving him away and starting to pat his hair down. “Now come on, Mikey, go to sleep.”

“Ah, you’re no fun.” Michael grumbled, but climbed up and started across the room to his bed.

Matt gave Rich a look, and Rich got up and followed Matt out of the basement.

“Okay, first of all, happy birthday.” Matt said, as they both walked into the dining room. “And I love you and will be here tomorrow too so you, Michael, and I can all do something together.”

“Thanks.” Rich said, giving Matt a side hug, followed by both of them sitting down at the table. “Love you too.”

“Now tell about this new Jeremy update.”

Rich sighed. “Okay, so for some reason neither Mikey nor I can figure out, Jeremy suddenly hates me.”

“Yeah, Michael said. But why? I thought you two had some kind of weird acquaintanceship that pissed Michael off.”

“We _ did. _ But then the other day I was just getting some stuff out of my locker and he came up and shoved me into it and threw me on the ground.”

“He did _ what?! _ Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Rich said, waving off Matt’s concern. “I just have no idea what happened.” he looked down. “Honestly, this is probably how Mikey’s been feeling.”

“He still has no clue?” Matt asked.

“Well… okay. Look, this is how he explained it to me.”

…

For the first time in his life, Michael was actually excited to go back to school.

If only because it meant he could find out what the fuck was going on with Jeremy.

Michael had gotten back from that god-awful camping trip back in July, and called Jeremy as soon as he was in range.

But Jeremy didn’t answer.

It was fairly late at night, so Michael had decided to head over to Jeremy’s tomorrow and surprise him with his return.

But then, when he did that, all that ended up happening was he stood outside his house calling him for half an hour, and eventually had to go home.

This was repeated several more times, and Michael got no responses from Mr. Heere either, and after his moms finally tried and still got no response, Michael gave up and decided that since school was only about a week away at that point anyway, he would just demand an explanation from Jeremy then.

So for about the first time in his life, Michael got to school _ early. _

“The things I do for you, Jeremy Heere,” he grumbled, standing just inside the doorway to wait for Jeremy to walk in.

It took about half an hour, but Jeremy finally arrived just before the bell rang. He was dressed in a muscle tank top, which was super jarring especially since those looked like _ muscles, _ but Michael still grinned at him, and was about to run forward and throw an arm around his shoulders when he heard:

“Hey, Jeremy!”

Michael blinked in surprise and turned to see—

Holy shit.

“Hey Jake.” Jeremy said, and Michael’s gaze flew back to him. “How’ve ya been, man?”

“You mean since you saw me last night?”

“Hey, you never know. Maybe something happened.”

“Yeah sure, okay.” Jake said with a little smile and a roll of his eyes.

They both walked off in the same direction, and Michael stared after them, Jeremy not even acknowledging him as he passed.

What the fuck had just happened?

Jeremy was friends with Jake Dillinger now? Since when? And since when did he dress in muscle tank tops and shorts? He looked like the definition of an asshole. But he was still clearly Jeremy, so what the fuck?

Michael kept an eye out for Jeremy in all his classes, but only saw him in the hallways— along with Brooke Lohst, Chloe Valentine, and Jake Dillinger again.

What. The. _ Fuck? _

It wasn’t until lunch that Michael finally got a chance to talk to him.

Jeremy was holding a lunch tray at the end of the line and looking out over the cafeteria when Michael spotted him, and he walked up and tapped his shoulder gently.

Jeremy turned around and looked at Michael’s— well, almost his eyes.

“Jeremy?” he asked, waving. “Look, I’m not mad at you or anything, I just—”

Jeremy turned and walked away in the middle of his sentence.

“Wha— hey!”

Michael gaped after him as he went over towards the popular kids table and sat down.

“What the…” Michael muttered to himself.

He stared at Jeremy for about five minutes, but when it came clear, no, he really wasn’t going to come back and acknowledge that Michael was standing right in front of him and talking to him, he slowly walked towards their usual table from last year and sat down.

What was going on?

Well, obviously Jeremy was friends with all the popular kids now, but that didn’t explain why he wasn’t acknowledging Michael.

An idea struck him. Was he— _ avoiding him? _

No. Jeremy wouldn’t do that.

Right?

What was he saying? _ Of fucking course _ he wouldn’t.

But then why was that what he seemed to be doing?

“Hey, can I sit here?” a voice asked. Michael looked up to see a boy standing there in a beige sweater, holding a lunch tray. “My brother is gonna send me fifty bucks in the mail if I initiate conversation today.”

Michael stared at him for a minute before shrugging. “Yeah, alright.”

The boy pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Your brother is paying you to talk to people?” Michael asked.

“I— don’t have any friends.” the boy admitted awkwardly.

Michael gave a bitter laugh. “Join the club, apparently.”

The boy gave him a confused look. “What does that mean?”

“I think my best friend ditched me for the popular kids.” Michael said.

“Oh.” the boy said quietly. “Sorry. That sucks.”

“What sucks is I have no idea where it came from.” Michael said. “I don’t see him all summer, then he shows up on the first day of school and he’s best friends with Jake Dillinger, he looks like a cliché douchebag, and he won’t even talk to me.”

“Wait, are you talking about Jeremy Heere?” the boy asked.

Michael nodded.

“You guys were friends last year?”

“We’ve been best friends since Kindergarten.”

The boy paused. “What the fuck?” he said eventually.

“That’s what _ I _ said!” Michael exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Then he sighed. “Sorry to dump all that on you. Guess I needed to vent.” He held his hand out. “Michael Mell.”

“That’s okay.” he shook his hand. “Rich Goranski. Uh… with an ‘s.’”

“Yeah, I got that.”

…

Rich didn’t stop sitting at the lunch table, and it turned out he did have some classes with him, which Michael was glad for, because Rich was actually a really cool person. He liked video games like Michael did (although mostly the Wii), and from what Michael learned of his brother through texts, calls, and the visit over winter break, he was also really awesome. His moms loved both of them, and Michael had thus far managed to dodge the questions about Jeremy.

Though he didn’t imagine that would last much longer. Jeremy was practically part of the family, of course his moms were worried.

He was right. It took them about 3 more days to ask. But the tension around the subject was building up way too much, and so by the time Analyn asked: “So, did you ever find out what happened with Jeremy?” at dinner, Michael burst into tears.

Both his moms came around the table in about five seconds and started hugging him from opposite sides.

“Jeremy hates me!” Michael sobbed.

“What?” Analyn asked in disbelief. “That doesn’t sound anything like Jeremy. What happened?”

“I d-don’t know,” Michael got out. “I just— I didn’t see him for the rest of summer after we got back and then he— he showed up on the first day of school wearing— wearing this stupid muscle shirt and— and he looked like a completely different person and he wouldn’t— he wouldn’t even talk to me and he still hasn’t and— and what did I do?!” he turned around and buried his head in Analyn’s chest.

“Michael,” Rachel whispered, and now both of his moms were hugging him, and he felt like a five year old, but he couldn’t seem to stop crying.

“What did I do?” Michael asked again. “I— if— if I did something to make him this mad I just wanna know what it was!”

“Shh, I know _ sanggol _, I know,” Analyn whispered, and Michael started crying harder and didn’t stop for a long time.

…

Surprisingly, after that he felt a little bit better.

Well, of course he still felt like shit. And he still wanted to know what in the world was happening with Jeremy (proven by nights spent stalking all his new friends to try and learn anything), but he had pretty much convinced himself, with some help from his moms, that if something had happened, it wasn’t his fault.

Now Michael was trying to do something he thought he’d never have to— forget about Jeremy. He didn’t want his whole friendship with Rich to consist of him missing another person. But it was hard. Even now, he couldn’t stomach the thought of throwing out any momentos or pictures, so he stuffed them in a box and shoved them in the attic. There were many days where he found himself up there, looking through pictures and (he would admit it) fighting back tears.

And sometimes he did end up ranting to Rich about everything. Rich never seemed to mind, but Michael _ really _ didn’t want him to think that was the only reason he kept him around.

But the worst part was that Jeremy would have _ loved _ Rich. He would have pretended that all of his constant joking and raving about his stories got on his nerves, and then when Rich wasn’t there he would have gone on and on to Michael how much he appreciated him, and how good it made him feel that Rich trusted him and Michael to read his stories, because Jeremy genuinely loved watching people get excited about stuff _ they _ loved. It was Michael’s favorite thing about him.

And now he was thinking about Jeremy again. God _ dammit. _

It wasn’t that Michael didn’t loved Rich to death. He _ did. _ It was just hard to look at him without thinking about how he didn’t want him to only think he cared about him as someone to vent to about Jeremy, and then that was what he was thinking about, and then he was so focused on that being the thing he was thinking about and trying to alter his train of thought so that wasn’t the thing he was thinking about that he wasn’t really even looking at Rich anymore.

Michael would say there was irony in there, but then Rich would yell at him about misusing the word ‘irony’ again. (“It is the most misused word in the English language, Michael! It doesn’t mean what you think it means!” And then Michael would quote The Princess Bride.)

And the _ other _ worst part was that Jeremy actually acknowledged Rich. Even when they were both there together he wouldn’t look at Michael, but he would smile and wave across the hallways at Rich, and Michael would glare after him in irritation and confusion.

Oh, and there was one other worst part.

The part where Rich, despite refusing to admit it, so obviously had a crush on Jake Dillinger.

You know, Jeremy’s new best friend.

And Michael was trying to be a supportive friend and let him rant about his crush. He was _ trying. _ But every time Rich brought up Jake he started fucking thinking about Jeremy again.

The first time Michael looked at Rich and honestly just thought about Rich (at least, that’s what it felt like to him), was under terrible circumstances, in late January.

The sky had been gray and gloomy all morning, and as the last period rolled around it had darkened even more and finally started pouring.

Michael had turned sixteen in December and gotten his license as soon as possible so he could finally drive the PT cruiser sitting in their garage to and from school everyday. So he grabbed his stuff from his locker and got ready to run through the parking lot, when he noticed Rich standing under the overhang just outside the school, staring at the rain.

“You okay?” Michael asked, walking up next to him.

“I, uh— I missed the bus.” Rich said.

Michael smiled a little. “Dude, I can drive now, remember? I’ll give you a ride home.”

Rich looked warily at Michael. “I don’t know.” he said, sounding really uneasy.

Michael laughed a little. “Rich, come on. What’s the big deal? Is your house super far away or something?”

Rich shook his head. “Five minutes.”

“So it’s no big. Come on, run through the rain with me while we pretend we look dramatic.”

Rich smiled a little, and then followed Michael as they ran through the rain to his car.

About ten minutes later, because yes, Michael is one of those people who drives super slow in the rain, Rich let him know they were there and Michael pulled into his driveway.

“Thanks.” he said softly, and hopped out of the car as Michael watched after him in confusion as to why he was being so quiet.

But Rich jogged up towards his door through the rain before Michael could ask.

He was about to shrug it off and back out of the driveway when he noticed Rich left his phone on the seat.

Michael sighed, shoved it in his hoodie pocket, and hopped out of the car himself and arrived at the door even more soaked.

The door was unlocked when Michael turned the handle.

“Dammit, Rich, you left your phone in the car—”

Michael stopped with the door halfway open when he heard a loud smack.

The wind from behind him blew the door the rest of the way open, and Rich’s head snapped towards Michael in horror. A man who couldn’t have been anyone but Rich’s father was standing above him with his hand raised like he was about to—

“And who the hell is this?!” the man snapped.

“Michael! This is Michael!” Rich cried desperately, looking back towards his father. “He gave me a ride home!”

Michael’s brain was working overtime trying to process what he was seeing. He would have loved to write it off as a horrible misunderstanding if Rich didn’t look so absolutely terrified. And if one of his cheeks wasn’t already bright red.

Ironically, the only one who didn’t look completely horrified by the situation was Rich’s father. (Rich would probably tell him that that wasn’t actually ironic.)

“Rich, you are well aware that I prefer you to walk home!” his father snapped.

“It— it was raining,” Rich stammered. “So I—”

_ Smack. _

Michael felt sick.

When Rich’s father made a fist, Michael ran forward on instinct and shoved himself in front if Rich.

His father stopped mid-swing.

“It was my fault!” Michael cried. “It was my idea! I’ll never give him a ride home again, I swear!”

Rich squeezed Michael’s arm and was seemingly trying to pull him away, but Michael stood firm.

Eventually, his father grumbled something that sounded like “Better not.” and stormed off.

Rich quickly ran over and shut the open front door, and then pulled Michael towards the back of the house, and what must have been his bedroom.

Michael was just now realizing he had never been to Rich’s house before.

Rich’s whisper of “That was not smart Michael” was cut off by Michael pulling him into a hug and starting to sob into Rich’s shoulder.

Rich hugged him back, which was ridiculous, because Michael should be comforting him right now, not the other way around, but what was now happening was Michael whispering “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” over and over, and Rich replying with “It’s okay, it’s okay Michael.”

Eventually Michael leaned back and wiped his eyes. “I’m sorry about all that.” he mumbled.

“It’s okay.” Rich said.

Michael handed Rich his phone. “You forgot this.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Rich muttered, taking it.

Neither of them said anything for a couple seconds.

“Is this why you never talk about your parents?” Michael whispered, because he was just realizing that too.

“My mom is dead.” Rich said. “I was seven. My dad didn’t take it well.”

Michael let out a shaky breath. “I’m so sorry.” he whispered again.

“It’s not your fault, Michael.” Rich said.

“Jesus— and your brother just left you with him?”

“I _ told _ him to.” Rich snapped suddenly. “Don’t start getting mad at him. I told him to. He’s always looked out for me, and I wanted him to look out for himself too. I told him to leave.”

“Okay.” Michael stood up, wiped his eyes again, and took a deep breath. “Do you have any bags besides your backpack?”

Rich blinked in confusion. “Uh, no?”

“Trash bags?”

“In the kitchen cabinet?”

“Okay.” Michael stood up. “Put as much as you can in your backpack. I’m going to find the trash bags.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I’m taking you home, Rich.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “Michael, no. I can’t ask you to do that!”

“You’re not asking. I’m telling. What cabinet are they in?”

Rich was silent for about five seconds, then said “The one under the sink.”

Michael headed out as Rich grabbed his backpack.

The kitchen was on the opposite side of the main room that also held the living room. Rich’s father wasn’t anywhere in sight, so Michael went towards the cabinet under the sink and found an almost-full box of trash bags. He headed back to Rich’s bedroom, and they both spent the next half hour grabbing everything Rich thought he’d need as quietly as possible.

Luckily for the two of them, the front door was a straight shot from Rich’s bedroom. Unluckily for them, there were simply too many bags to get in one trip.

“I’m going to see if my father is asleep.” Rich said.

Michael narrowed his eyes in concern. “Rich—”

“It’s likely at this time of day. And I won’t get caught. I’ve practiced, okay?”

Michael eventually nodded, and Rich returned with a report that that father was asleep, so they both brought all of the bags to the front door, then opened it and hurriedly carried them all to the car through the rain.

“You’re sure you’ve got everything?” Michael asked as they both climbed into the car, soaking wet.

Rich thought for a minute. “My toothbrush.” he realized.

“I’ll buy you a new one.” Michael said instantly.

“Then yeah.”

Michael looked behind him and backed out of the driveway.

About ten minutes after that they pulled into Michael’s driveway.

Rachel and Analyn both ran out to the front porch, looking furious.

Michael and Rich both climbed slowly out of the car.

“You,” Rachel said, her tone deadly. “Have some explaining to do.”

“I know.” Michael said.

“It is pouring rain, an hour after you were expected home, when we’ve told you multiple times that after school you let us _ know _ if you’re not coming straight home, and why is Rich here? What— what are you doing?”

Michael was helping Rich grab some of the bags from the backseat. “Rich is living here now.” Michael said, as they both set the bags down on the porch and went back for new ones.

“Rich is— excuse me?! And you did think to ask us about this?”

They returned with the last bags and Rich partially hid himself behind Michael, looking very awkward.

“Mom.” Michael said. “Can we just take his bags inside and I’ll tell you what happened later?”

“We are not—”

“Let’s just get out of the rain,” Analyn said, grabbing one of the trash bags.

Rachel sighed and grabbed two of the bags, and between the four of them, they got them all in one trip.

They set them in the entryway and all walked over to the table.

“Alright. Explain.” Rachel said, crossing her arms.

Michael turned to Rich. “Do you want to tell them?” he asked quietly.

Rich shook his head, and stared down at his shoes.

So Michael turned back to his mothers and told them everything that had happened since school ended. By the time he finished, Rachel’s face showed a strange combination of horrified and contemplative, and Analyn had a hand over her mouth. Rich was still staring at his shoes.

“Okay.” Rachel said finally. “Okay. I am obviously so proud. But if something like this happens again, don’t try to handle it yourself. Come get one of us or another adult.”

Michael nodded.

“That being said…” she glanced at Analyn, who nodded. “Of course Rich can stay here.”

Michael let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Rich started to cry.

Analyn was up and hugging him in half a second, and Michael and Rachel both joined a second later.

A half hour after that Rich called his brother, who had decided to come down the following day and interrogate them all as if he’d never met them before.

…

That night Michael apologized to Rich. He apologized regarding everything involving Jeremy and still missing him and if he’d been paying more attention instead of trying to stop doing that he might have been able to realize what was happening sooner.

“Hey, it’s alright Michael.” Rich said from his spot next to him in the bed. It was big enough that they could share until his moms bought him a new one. “I’m not mad if you miss Jeremy. Of course you’re going to miss Jeremy. It would be unrealistic to expect otherwise.”

Michael sighed. “I just don’t want you to think that getting to talk about that is the only reason you’re my friend. Because it’s not.”

“Dude. You just dragged me away from my father and are practically forcing me to live here now. If we were just friends because you wanted to talk about Jeremy, you wouldn’t do that. Plus, we do stuff other than talk about Jeremy all the time. If you need to be upset about him sometimes, it’s okay.”

Michael sighed. “I want it to not have happened.” he whispered.

“Yeah, I know.” Rich said.

“Seriously, why do people do that? Just— suddenly become assholes? Shouldn't there be an explanation?”

“Sometimes there isn’t.” Rich said quietly. “And that’s just life.”

Michael sighed again. “I’m sorry your dad is one of the assholes in life.”

“Yeah.” Rich mumbled. “Me too.”

Michael leaned over and pulled Rich in for a hug. “I love you, okay? Like, you’re super important to me.”

Rich hugged him back. “Thanks, Mikey. Can I call you Mikey?”

“Sure.”

…

“So then, like, a week later, Brian showed up.” Rich said. “And he found out about Dad when were talking about him at school like idiots, so he threatened to tell everyone, and you already knew that, but like I said, the actual weird part is that the day after Chloe Valentine apparently beat him up, Jeremy suddenly ran up to me and shoved me into a locker and then threw me on the ground and stormed off.”

Matt shook his head in confusion. “Seriously, what the fuck?”

_ “I don’t know! _ It’s like one asshole was replaced with another! But why Jeremy? And why now? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re right, it really doesn’t.” Matt muttered. “I’m really sorry you have to deal with that, Rich.”

“I’ll be okay. I’m used to that kind of stuff, right? And at least it’s only at school now. It just really freaking sucks that it has to be Jeremy. I can’t imagine what that’s doing to Mikey.”

“I mean, he did just say he was more worried about you, Rich.” Matt pointed out.

Rich hummed in thought. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Hey, maybe… maybe he’s finally starting to move on.”

Matt looked skeptical. “I don’t know. He seemed a lot more angry at Jeremy when he brought him up. Anger isn’t really acknowledging what happened, it’s avoiding it.”

Rich blinked at him. “Since when are you a therapist?”

“Oh, I never told you? That’s what I’m studying. I’m going to be a therapist.”

Rich grinned. “Matt, that’s awesome!” he cried, throwing his arms around him.

“Yes, yes, it’s awesome.” came a new voice. Both of them turned to see Rachel standing in the hallway. “And we love having Matt here, but it is a school morning, so you both need to go to bed.”

Rich smiled sheepishly at her. “Yeah, alright.” He turned back to his brother. “Go take the couch like the peasant you are, Matt.”

Matt gasped in mock offense as Rich followed Rachel down the hall, but went down to the basement as she went into her bedroom.

He fell asleep again as soon as his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next couple months my life is about to get super busy, so this story will probably get updates much less often than you’re used to from me. Just a heads up.


	5. Chapter 5

Jeremy was pretty sure his dad was now working from home. He couldn’t help but feel bitter. He wasn’t exactly the only one bothered by what had happened, and if he bothered to look in Jeremy’s direction he would see Michael wasn’t coming over anymore and Jeremy was never home either.

At least he didn’t get fired, so Jeremy didn’t have to work to support the household.

He did still have a job. The Squip said having enough to go to a good college was critical for their plan to win his mother back, for which he needed money, though he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone he did have a job. Somehow it had gotten him a salary of $15 an hour working at Pinkberry.

It was summer now, so Jeremy was working pretty much every day.

Jake usually showed up at his job, and Brooke and (less often) Chloe sometimes joined him. Jenna had dropped out of the group once again, which Jeremy was upset about but the Squip wasn’t letting him do anything about (and it was hard to say no to his Mom’s ‘Listen Right Now or No Dessert’ face).

Chloe had finally stopped hovering over him, although she seemed very annoyed at him when he’d asked her to. Jeremy couldn’t begin to understand why. Brooke said it was just something she did when she was worried, but the idea of her being worried ticked Jeremy off even more. A week or so of being pissed off + the Squip encouraging him to be an asshole had Chloe practically giving him the cold shoulder. Jeremy could honestly say it was a marked improvement.

The four of them still spent many afternoons at Jake’s house after Jeremy got off work, because when it’s 90 degrees outside and your best friend has a pool, you would be a straight-up moron not to take advantage of it.

Brooke and Chloe were on the opposite side of the deep end from where Jake and Jeremy were leaning against the wall and kicking their legs out in front of them.

“So,” Jake said cautiously. “How are you?”

Jeremy gave him a look.

“What?”

“You’re beginning to sound just like Chloe. By now haven’t you guys picked up on the fact that I don’t like people worrying about me?”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “I’m your best friend, dude. It kinda comes with the job description.”

“‘Job description’ makes it sound like being my best friend is hard work.”

“It is a full-time job, Jeremy.” Jake said solemnly. “Maybe I should start dating you instead, I’m sure dating is much less work.”

Jeremy snorted. “I’m fine, Jake.”

Jake looked at him for a moment, but seemed to take the statement and the laughter at face value and shrugged, turning back to face Brooke and Chloe.

“Yo, Chloe!” he called. They both glanced over. “I’m gonna break up with you and start dating Jeremy, you cool with that?”

“Oh my God, shut up!” Jeremy laughed again.

Jake turned and looked at him with mock hurt. “I’m professing my undying love for you and you tell me to shut up?”

“I’m sorry Jake,” Jeremy said, turning away. “But I’m in love with your best friend.”

Brooke started snickering as Jake paused for a moment to wrap his mind around that. “But that’s you.”

“Yeah, self love!” Brooke called.

Jeremy gave a little whoop in response.

**Jeremy, you should not be encouraging this kind of thing.**

Jeremy blinked in surprise at his Squip’s comment and turned to look at where it was on his other side. _ Self love? _

**Focus back in front of you. You look like you’re staring at nothing.**

_ Why shouldn’t I be encouraging self love? _

**Of course that is not what I meant. Don’t be stupid Jeremy.**

Jeremy flinched.

**We’ll talk later.**

…

They did indeed end up talking later in his room, and it was true that his Squip was not talking about self love. Instead, it was talking about something that seemed to be completely unrelated.

**You should not be encouraging any behavior that does not seem heterosexual.**

Jeremy blinked in shock. _ I’m sorry, _what?

**Same sex couples are still an extra barrier to cross in current society and therefore an extra obstacle towards your goal of gaining popularity.**

_ It was just a stupid joke. It was funny. Does Jake actually have a crush on me? _

**No.**

_ Then why does it matter? _

**I will not repeat myself Jeremy.**

_ Mom was homophobic too, you know. And it was just as much bullshit coming from her. _

The Squip shocked him, and Jeremy flinched. **Do not speak to me that way, Jeremiah.**

Jeremy flinched again. _ Okay, I’m sorry. But seriously. If I don’t want to date Jake and Jake doesn’t want to date me, then what is the problem here? _

**You are already being too accepting with your relationship with Brooke Lohst, I will not push this any farther.**

Woah. _Okay, now that actually _ is _ homophobic. _

**Jeremy.** his Squip sighed. **If it makes you feel better, I can explain that I have no real opinion towards sexuality at all. It is simply in conflict with your goal to be more chill.**

_ I am not going to tell Jake to stop joking about that specifically when you know exactly how it will sound. _

His Squip sighed. **Very well. In that case, we will talk about Brooke—**

_ No. _

His Squip narrowed his eyes. **Jeremy.**

_ No! I am not going to start being a dick to Brooke for such a shitty reason! Popular people can be accepting. They don’t have to be dicks. _

**Need I remind you of Rich Goranski?**

An unexpected wave of guilt rose in Jeremy. _ That. That’s… different, _ he got out. _ And I— I would stop if you’d let me. _

**Remarkable, Jeremy. I did not know it was possible to stutter in your head.**

Jeremy squeezed his eyes shut, sat on his bed, and curled his fingers around the side of his matress. _ Stop it, please. _

**You have once again surpassed my previously established limits of how pathetic a human being can be.**

_ I’m serious. Please stop. _

**Every day you amaze me with what a terrible son you are.**

_ Please— _

**No wonder I left.**

Jeremy choked out a sob and pressed his hand to his mouth. A couple seconds later he felt tears getting his hand wet.

He cried into his hand for about a minute before he felt the now-familiar sensation of what felt like his mother taking his face in her hands. **Are you ready to talk rationally yet, Jeremy?** she asked sweetly.

Jeremy nodded miserably, opened his eyes, and wiped his tears away.

…

The following day Jeremy asked Jake not to make any couple jokes in public. Jake looked surprised and a little confused, but ultimately agreed and it meant Jeremy could still let Brooke text him about cute girls, so it was the lesser of two evils.

**Stop calling it an evil, Jeremy. I told you it’s necessary for your goal.**

Jeremy said nothing.

The whole day he felt like a puppet, with the Squip being the one pulling his strings to get him to do anything. It asked him several times what in the world was the matter, but Jeremy didn’t know.

Just an off day, he supposed. He’d been having them more and more often since Michael.

At least the Squip could make him look fine so didn’t have to put any effort into doing it himself. He didn’t know what he’d do without the help, honestly.

However, that didn’t stop him from collapsing onto his bed as soon as he got home. He groaned into his pillow and shoved it around his ears. _ Can I sleep? _

**Go ahead.**

However, Jeremy had barely shut his eyes when he was surprised by a knock at the door.

“Hey, Private?” His dad poked his head in the door, and Jeremy sat up in surprise. He was rarely acknowledged by his father these days. “I’m gonna order pizza for dinner, okay?”

“Yeah,” Jeremy grumbled and lay back down again.

Food. Figures.

His dad lingered in the doorway. “Hey, Jeremy?”

_ “What?” _ Jeremy grumbled.

“Look, kiddo, I know your mom leaving was hard on both of us, and not just me, okay?”

Jeremy coughed in shock. He hadn’t thought his dad had been paying enough attention to him to notice anything.

He still didn’t turn around. “Yeah, what’s your point?”

His dad sighed. “Just… if you need to talk about anything, Jeremy…”

**What would I need to talk about?**

“What would I need to talk about?” Jeremy repeated.

“Well… don’t think I haven’t noticed that Michael hasn’t stopped by in a while, kiddo.”

Tears welled in Jeremy’s eyes, and he was glad in the moment he was facing away from his father. _ Make it stop, _ he thought at his Squip.

His eyes dried up.

**Repeat after me—**

“I’m surprised you noticed anything at all to be honest.” Jeremy snapped before his Squip could say anything, finally whirling around. “And you’re about a year too late, by the way, because Michael hasn’t been here since Mom left. Maybe if you actually looked away from the TV screen every now and then, you’d see that things are changing without you, Dad. I’m not going to wait for you to get over Mom to move on with my life. And apparently Michael decided the same thing about me. If you’ll excuse me, I’d like to take a _ nap _ like I was going to do before you decided to make your annual check-up on your son to see if he’s still alive.”

Jeremy turned back around and laid down on his bed to a satisfying _ thwack _ of the mattress springs.

_ Sorry for cutting you off. _

**That was perfect, Jeremy.**

His father was silent for half a minute. Jeremy turned around again. He was gone.

…Figures.


	6. Chapter 6

“So… it’s a video game about a zombie apocalypse.”

Michael gave Rich a look of absolute disgust. _ “No. _ It is _ Apocalypse of the Damned. _ God, why do I even know you?” He turned back to the game. “Like, seriously, do you have any idea how hard it was for me to even get this game? Because it was. not. easy.”

“Yeah, yeah, cause people stopped selling it or whatever.”

Michael shook his head at Rich again in disbelief. “It’s an _ out of print game, _ you moron. If you do not appreciate everything I am trying to share with you, then you can get out.”

“No, hey, I wanna play it!”

“Then stop dissing it and grab a controller.”

Rich rolled his eyes and went forward to a table next to the video game counsel, about to grab one of the two controllers there, but Michael smacked his hand away at the last second.

“Now what?” Rich asked in exasperation.

“Yeah, I saw you going for my Player One title. Nice try.”

“Oh my God, you are impossible to play video games with,” Rich said, snatching the other controller as Michael went to turn the game on. “I don’t know how Jeremy could stand you for ten years.”

Rich immediately froze, realizing that was probably a bad comment to make. But when he saw Michael out of the corner of his eye, he was just being flipped off, which was a common enough occurrence that Rich stopped being worried.

“Rich, if you had found someone who you could win Mario Kart with consistently, you’d understand.”

“Right, uh huh, are we gonna kill zombies or not?”

“Of fucking course we’re gonna kill zombies, let’s do this thing.”

They both sat down on the new bean bags which they had moved in front the counsel in Michael’s basement. They had thrown out the old ones a couple months ago so they could both have their own, brand new bags to play games with. Rich had gotten an orange one and Michael a hot pink because “Fuck gender stereotypes!”

The menu screen came up and Michael selected two player mode, level one.

And while Michael did really good for having never played this game before, Rich died. A lot.

Although he suspected that had nothing to do with how hard the game actually was. Because despite the fact that he felt he was doing a fairly decent job at acting normal, he was pretty nervous.

Not about how Micahel would react. He knew exactly how he would react— he’d tease him and then tell him that they should go call his brother. It was the actual saying the words out loud that was the hard part.

“Wow, Rich, you’ve died right there three times in a row.” Michael laughed. “Is the game really that hard or do you just suck?”

“Hey Mikey?” Rich’s asked, completely ignoring his previous question.

“Yeah?”

“I— uh— I’m—”

Michael looked over in concern. “Are you okay?”

“I’m bi.” Rich blurted.

Michael was silent for a minute, and Rich wanted to crawl into a hole.

“Wow, I _ really _ hope it was not the zombies that helped you finally realize that.”

Rich burst into laughter and covered his face with his hands.

“‘Cause I mean, I’m’ not gonna kinkshame, but…”

“Stop it stop it stop it _ God!” _ Rich screamed. “You are so mortifying, you know that?”

“Rich, that’s what I’m _ here _ for. Come on, we need to go call your brother and tell him you’ve finally accepted your crush on Jake Dillinger.”

Rich laughed again. “I _ knew _ you were gonna say that.”

Michael grinned at him. “Glad I could deliver, my bi friend. Now you can finally rant to me about Jake Dillinger without following it up with comments about how much you ‘admire his confidence.’”

Rich felt his face heating up. “I do admire his confidence.”

“Okay, not for the reason _ you _ were trying to insist you admired his confidence, bud.”

Rich’s face got hotter. “Shut up.”

Michael laughed. “So if that was the only reason you were dying over and over, can we go back to playing our game now?”

Rich grinned. “Yeah.”

…

Rich’s least favorite thing about Jeremy Heere was his muscles. He was sure any girlfriend he had would disagree, but Rich personally did not appreciate how strong he was, because it meant days like today, when he would be modeling a black eye and a sore everything else for his now sure to be miserable day ahead.

Rich’s favorite thing about Jeremy Heere was his best friend.

That was an obvious problem.

He couldn’t help it. He’d been admiring Jake Dillinger from a distance before he knew that’s what he was doing. And now that he’d figured it out… it certainly didn’t _ help. _

He was sure it was starting to annoy the fuck out of Michael, with how much he was talking about Jake. He never said anything, but he had to be getting sick of it, right?

I mean it wasn’t like it was all they ever talked about, that would be ridiculous as well as a little unhealthy on Rich’s part, but once junior year started he spent much of lunchtime staring at him, at least until Jeremy gave him a death glare one day. After that he did it more discreetly. And Michael might have teased him about it in a way that didn’t make it _ seem _ like he was irritated, but deep down Rich still felt like he might be.

Was he annoying?

It had been bothering Rich for a week or so. He knew, honestly, that it was probably an irrational fear. But he _ really _ didn’t want to annoy Michael after everything he had done for him. He tried to ignore the fear most of the time, but the stubborn little thing refused to go away.

At least Michael didn’t seem at all bothered, and that helped Rich a little bit.

“God, how did summer go by so quickly?” Michael groaned, slamming his head on his desk. “And why. Must. They. Torture. Us. With. Homework.”

Rich chuckled a little. “I can help you with your English, Mikey.”

“Don’t make promises if you don’t intend to keep them.” Michael said, as he sat up and wrote something down on whatever he was working on.

“I very much do intend to keep it if you actually need the help.”

“Okay, but like… fine, explain the difference between the ironies again?”

Rich stood up from where he was writing on his bed and walked over to Michael’s. “Verbal irony is sort of like sarcasm. Sarcasm really has more mocking and/or teasing involved, but they’re otherwise the same.”

“Except sarcasm is obviously more fun.”

Rich gestured at Michael. “See, that was verbal irony.”

Michael blinked. “Huh.”

Rich sat down on the end of the bed, and Michael sat up near the pillow as Rich continued.

“Situational irony is the one everyone gets wrong. If you look up the dictionary definition, it’s basically when something happens that’s the opposite of what you expect, but it has to be _ really _ out there to even be considered ironic. Like, think of a situation you would normally consider ironic, and add about ten more reasons why the thing that you think is ironic shouldn’t have happened.”

“Um…” Michael looked back down at his paper and wrote something down. “Okay, I think I got it.”

“Dramatic irony is the easiest to explain. It’s when you know something the character in the story doesn’t.”

“Like something that’ll happen in the future?”

“Sure, that’s one example. Usually when you talk about it that way it’s something about to happen in a couple seconds, unless you’re talking about a flashback scene or a time traveler. But it can also be about secrets, or misunderstandings, like if you understand something about a character’s situation that they currently don’t.”

Michael looked down. “That sounds depressing.”

“What? Why?”

“Understand _ what _ about a character’s situation? What, do you understand that the person they think doesn’t love them actually does? Or that something they’re doing is harmful to them? Or that they’re worth more than they think they are?”

Rich stared at him for a second. “Well, Jesus, Mikey, you took that really dark. You could also understand that like, their significant other is about to propose to them or something.”

Michael blinked. “Oh. Uh, yeah. I guess I did take that in a different direction, huh.” He turned back to the page and wrote something else down. “Okay, I think I’m good. Thanks, Rich.”

“Sure, no problem. Now you’re buying me lunch for a week, right?”

“Keep dreaming.”

Rich laughed a little as he walked back over to his own bed, and noticed the papers he’d kept shoved under his pillow for a couple days. He but his lip, and turned back to Michael.

“Hey, Mikey? Can I ask you a favor?”

“Yeah sure,” Michael said absentmindedly, glancing up from his homework.

“Okay, but like, you don’t have to, and if you’re busy I don’t want to bother you—”

“Rich, you never bother me, dude. What’s up?”

“Okay, I just. I have this story I was thinking about maybe publishing online, and—”

“Really?!” Michael sat bolt upright. “Let me read it!”

“Uh…” Rich bit his lip.

“Rich, you cannot withhold this from me, come on!”

“I mean, I was gonna ask you to read it, because I need a beta-reader, but like, now that I’m thinking about it it’s not that great, and—”

“Rich!” Michael gave a mock pouty lip. “Gimme!”

Rich smiled a little. “Okay,” he said, and walked across the room and handed the pages over.

Michael spent the next five or so minutes reading, and Rich watched his face, which gave nothing away.

“Okay,” Michael finally said, taking the pencil out of his mouth from where he had been absentmindedly chewing on it. “I always love your stories Rich, and I don’t know why in the world you don’t think this is amazing. But.”

“But?” Rich said nervously.

“I have no idea what the word ‘incandescent’ means.”

“Passionate.”

“Ah.” Michael put the pencil back in his mouth. “In that case, it’s the single greatest piece of literature I’ve ever read.”

Rich raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were reading Pride and Prejudice in English right now.”

“Jane Allen’s got nothing on you.”

“Oh my God. Jane _ Austen,” _ Rich said. “Is considered one of the greatest writers of all time.”

“It’s a _ compliment, _ dumbass.”

“An extremely inaccurate compliment.”

“Alright, fine. I will never compliment you again.”

“You really like it?” Rich asked hesitantly, taking the pages back from Michael.

“Course I do. It’s obviously clever, but you still do a great job dumbing it down for the stupid people here.”

“You’re not stupid, Mikey.”

“Well, I’m no Jane Allen, am I?”

Rich shot him a deadpan glare. “I take it back. You’re a moron.”

Michael snorted.

“It’s not supposed to be dumbed down, though. Wait, is that what it comes off as? Mikey—”

“Rich, deep breath. This is really good, I promise.”

Rich took a deep breath. “Okay.” He paused for another second in thought. “Okay. I’m gonna do it.” Rich looked at Michael. “I’m publishing this online.”

“Yeah, that’s my boy!” Michael called, holding up his hand.

“Don’t say that, it sounds weird!” Rich called, smacking his hand in a high five.

Michael laughed, and they both walked back over to their respective beds, Rich climbing under his covers to go to sleep, and Michael sitting on top, going back to work on his homework.

“You know,” Michael mused as Rich was about to drop off. “I wonder if Jake would like your stories.”

“Shut up.” Rich mumbled.

“You should show him this one. You share English, right? Just walk up to him and—”

“Or, counterargument, I could not.”

“What, you’re not just going to walk up to the most popular guy in school and shove something you made in his face?”

“I’m going to bed now, Mikey.” Rich said.

“Well I mean, he’d be weirded out at first, but then—”

“Goodnight, Michael.”


	7. Chapter 7

You can yell at him, but Rich loved getting up early. First of all, do you understand how much writing, reading, and homework he can get done before everyone else is awake? Second, sometimes he intentionally gets up early enough to watch the sunrise, and if you’ve seen one, he doesn’t need to explain. And finally, his favorite part of the morning.

He gets to listen to Michael pound on the bathroom door while he’s in the shower.

“Rich! You’re hogging the bathroom!” Michael screamed.

“Get up earlier!” Rich yelled back.

See, that was fun.

Five minutes later he was out of the shower and dressed, heading towards the kitchen to make breakfast.

Only to be met by his least favorite part of his morning routine, being Michael hogging the toaster.

“Asshole.” Rich said, hitting him on the back of the head as he passed towards the fridge to get a glass of milk.

“Sorry not sorry.” Michael said from where he was pouring coffee into a teacup.

“You know we have coffee mugs, right?” Rich asked.

“Well, yeah. But they’re all dirty.”

“Well, guess what. You can do this thing where you take one out of the sink and scrub-a-dub-dub until it’s pretty again.”

“Yeah, but I mean… that takes effort…”

“Lazy.”

“That’s not an insult in today’s society.”

“I don’t even know what that means.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I just understand the English language better than you.”

“Stop talking before your pants catch on fire. And get your shit out of the toaster.”

Michael picked up the toaster and proceeded to dump the bagel onto a plate, accompanied by all the excess crumbs that were stuck inside.

“Gross.” Rich said.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Says you. Look, it’s extra calories.”

_ “Gross.” _

Michael snickered before carrying the disgusting looking plate into the dining room.

“You’re turning into a college student!” Rich yelled.

“Bitch, I’ve been a college student for years!”

Rich put two pieces of toast into the toaster and downed half his glass of milk in one go. While he was waiting for his toast to pop up Analyn walked into the room. She gave Rich a kiss on the top of his head before she walked over to the fridge herself. “Good morning, _ pulot. _” she said. “How did you sleep?”

“Pretty good.”

“6 out of 10!” Michael called from the other room.

“That’s good for a school night!” Analyn called back.

“Oh, yes, the poor teenagers with their sleep deprivation.” said Rachel, walking into the room herself.

“I blame the bus schedules!” Rich exclaimed, thrusting his fist into the air with his declaration.

“You don’t ride the bus.” Analyn said, raising an eyebrow.

_ “Other people _ do, and the teenagers get stuck with the earliest start time because of those bus schedules.” Rich pointed out.

“See, Mom? Rich gets it!” Michael called from the dining room.

Rachel rolled her eyes.

Rich’s toast popped up at that moment. He grabbed them, put them on a plate, and added butter, while Rachel and Analyn began making their own breakfasts. Then he joined Michael in the dining room, who was finishing his bagel and all of the extra crumbs (seriously, _ ugh _) and going upstairs to brush his teeth.

“You two better get going soon, or you’ll be late for school!” Analyn called from the kitchen. Rich shoved his pieces of toast in his mouth as fast as possible and ran up the stairs to grab his backpack and brush his teeth himself.

Five minutes later found him drumming his fingers on the dashboard of Michael’s PT Cruiser, waiting for him to show up.

_ Finally, _ Michael opened the door and walked out towards the car.

“Thank you for deciding to join me.” Rich said.

“Eh, shut up.” Michael said, backing out of the driveway.

The drive to school was uneventful, but the way they pulled into the school (with about five minutes until it started) had them both sprinting out of the car and into the building, then running off to their respective lockers with not so much as a goodbye.

Amazingly, Chloe, Brooke, and Jenna were still standing next to his locker talking. Maybe teachers just automatically gave them free passes because they were popular. Was that how it worked? That couldn’t be how it worked.

“So, Jenna Rolan said Madeline told Jake—”

Rich automatically tuned in at Jake’s name, opening his locker to make it look like he wasn’t.

Jake and Chloe had finally broken up after dragging it out for much longer than anyone expected. And according to Chloe, Jake had just recently had sex with Madeline.

And this is where Rich tunes out of the conversation.

He grabbed his books and started to walk away, only to slam into their resident asshole.

“Watch where you’re going, piece of shit.” Jeremy snapped.

“Sorry, I was just—”

Rich was whirled around and slammed into a locker, before Jeremy scribbled something on his backpack.

“Wash that off and you’re dead,” he growled in Rich’s ear before shoving him away.

Rich was not ashamed to admit that he ran a little to get farther away from him. Hey, don’t judge him. Jeremy Heere could be fucking scary.

He glanced back over his shoulder as he turned the corner to find Chloe shooting Jeremy a glare and gesturing at Rich, but that was about all he saw before he ducked into a classroom and headed to a seat in the back.

Rich pulled his backpack up and looked at what Jeremy had written on it.

‘Boyf.’ What in the world?

Unfortunately, Rich wasn’t in a class with Michael until after lunch, but fortunately (or maybe it was unfortunate too, he honestly wasn’t sure) Jake Dillinger was in his first class.

It was English, so it wasn’t like Jake was distracting him enough that his grade was dropping, that was next to impossible. But he was often staring at him in the middle of the room rather than paying attention to the teacher, which wasn’t helping his feelings go away.

At least Jeremy wasn’t in this class, so he couldn’t glare at him and make him stop.

The rest of the morning classes passed in boredom, because Jake wasn’t there.

Okay, not really. More because he was sick of math, history, and physics, which were his other classes before lunch.

When lunch finally rolled around, Rich found Michael on instinct.

“Hey.” Rich said as he sat down.

“Sup.” Michael replied.

“Nothin’ much.” Rich said, electing not to mention Jeremy writing on his backpack that morning.

“You know I meant that as a greeting and not a question.”

“I am aware.”

They had that particular conversation often. Rich insited that ‘sup’ was technically a shortened version of ‘what’s up’ and therefore a question.

“Well, my morning was fairly eventful.” Michael said.

Rich raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound particularly happy about these events.”

Michael scoffed. “Well, Jeremy has apparently decided to acknowledge me now. Only it’s not the good kind of acknowledging.” He pulled out his backpack and dropped it on the table. It said ‘riends.’

“I mean, what the fuck does that even mean?” Michael asked in exasperation. “You’re my writer friend, is that some kind of obscure slur, or something?”

“Mikey.” Rich put his backpack on the other side of Michael’s, so the backpacks now read ‘Boyf riends.’

Michael banged his head on the table. “I hate everything.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Rich said. “Who cares what Jeremy thinks?”

Michael muttered something and sat up. “Yeah. Okay, yeah. You’re right, fuck him.”

Rich smiled a little at Michael and they both set their backpacks on the floor.

“Oh, hey.” Michael said. “So I figured out a good side to that Discovery Channel thing we watched last night.”

Rich raised an eyebrow. “The one about humanity no longer evolving? Mikey, do you understand the massive problems that come with—”

“Okay, hear me out.” Michael cut him off.

Rich settled his chin on his hand. “Okay.”

“Evolution is survival of the fittest, right?”

Rich nodded.

“But now, because of technology, you don’t have to be string to survive, meaning—” he waved his hand as if making an important declaration. “There’s never been a better time in history to be a loser!”

Rich snorted. “Mikey, that’s only a good side for school.”

“Rich,” Michael pouted. “You’re killing my vibe here.”

Rich laughed again.

“My point is, look at all these losers who are trying to be popular—”

“You literally just made it clear that _ we _ are the losers—”

“When what they should really be doing is—”

Rich’s eyes flicked to the side and he cut Michael off one more time with “—signing up for the play!”

Michael blinked at him. “What?”

“Mikey!” Rich leaned forward and grabbed Michael’s face, turning it to the side. “Look who’s signing up for the play!”

Jeremy Heere was scribbling his name down as Jake Dillinger was putting his own pen back in his backpack.

Michael gave Rich a confused look. “Jeremy Heere?”

“No, you— Jake was putting his pen away, Mikey!”

“Ah, okay. Let me guess. You are now going to sign up for the play in an attempt to spend time with him.”

“Hey, shut up— actually, you know what, I’m not even going to try to deny that, you’re absolutely right.” Rich stood up and started walking over to the sign-up sheet. He took a breath and scribbled his name down.

“GAY!”

Rich tensed up at Jeremy’s voice. Before it could get any worse, he started slowly walking back over to his seat to everyone laughing. He spared a glance at the popular table and found Jake rolling his eyes in amusement.

Wow. That didn’t sting.

It was Rich’s turn to bang his head down when he got back to the lunch table, and Michael patted his back reassuringly.

“Hey, being gay is super cool anyway.” Michael pointed out. “I should know.”

Rich laughed a little bit and pulled his head up.

“You still going to participate?” Michael asked.

“Um…” Rich considered for a moment. “Yeah. I’m not letting Jeremy Heere ruin all my fun.”

“Hey, there ya go!” Michael called, giving Rich a slightly harder pat on the back. There was still a little bit of pain and anger under Michael’s words that Rich picked up on, but he let it go in lieu of bringing it up and ruining the rest of their lunch.

So. A minute and a half ago, he wasn’t in a play, and now he was. He had no idea why Jake Dillinger had signed up.

He also had no idea where his acting skills were on the spectrum. He supposed he would find out.

…

When Rich walked into the theatre, the only other person there was a girl he had never met before, but when she looked up and saw him she beamed like they’d known each other their whole lives.

“Ohmigosh, hi! Are you here for the play?”

“Oh, um, yeah. Is there where you meet?”

“No, I’m sorry. I was sent here by the swim team to inform everyone for the play to meet in the pool.”

Rich laughed nervously. “Nice one.”

“Thanks!” the girl called happily. As Rich slowly walked over and sat down at the end of the row, she hopped up and sat back down next to him. “Hey, sorry, but are you okay? You seem a little nervous.”

“Oh. Uh, my crush is kinda doing this play, and—”

“And that’s why you signed up, isn’t it?” the girl asked suddenly, her look turning sour. “Oh, of course.”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, I’m just sick of all these annoying people signing up for a reason other than liking theatre!”

“Uh… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be annoying. What… what play are we doing?”

_ “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” _ Christine grumbled.

Amazingly, all Rich’s thoughts of Jake flew out the window. “Wait, we’re doing Shakespeare?!” he gasped. “No way! I love Shakespeare! Oh wow, that’s the best!”

Christine looked up in surprise. “Really?”

“Hell yeah! Oh, I am _ totally _ trying out for Puck.”

Christine was grinning now. “Well, it is lovely to meet a fellow lover of Shakespeare.” she said. “I am Christine Canigula.” She stood up and bowed.

Rich copied the motion. “Rich Goranski.”

Christine grinned at him again as they both sat down, albeit a little more sheepishly. “Uh, sorry for snapping at you. Sometimes it just seems like I’m the only person in the theatre for the actual theatre.”

“I totally get that. You are talking to a teenager who actually likes to read. _ Shakespeare. _”

Christine giggled.

“If it helps, I totally would have joined just for the play if I knew we were doing _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” _

“That does, actually.” Christine said as they both sat down again. “So, you mind me asking who this crush of yours is that coincidentally led to you living out Shakespeare?”

“Oh, um—”

Before Rich could answer, the doors at the top of the theatre slammed open, and in poured Jake Dillinger, Jeremy Heere, Brooke Lohst, Chloe Valentine, and Jenna Rolan.

Around the same time, Mr. Reyes, the drama teacher, appeared onstage.

“Oh, thank heavens, the popular students have arrived. Hello, everyone! My name is Mr. Reyes. You may recognize me from Drama Class, or my full-time job, at the Hobby Lobby. I’ve been dreaming of the day I get to stage William Shakespeare’s classic _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream—” _

Christine and Rich high-fived.

“And today, that dream dies.”

“What?” Christine asked.

“And is reborn! Just… slightly mutated. The school has informed me that unless I increase our popularity, our funds will be diverted to the Frisbee Golf Team. Which is why instead of our production being set in a pastoral forest we will be in a post- apocalyptic future, and instead of frolicking with fairies, we will be fleeing from zombies.”

“Hey, come on!” Rich called. Normally he wouldn’t be so vocal with Jeremy Heere in the room, as proven by his glare at him, but goddammit, this was Shakespeare!

“Don’t you care about Shakespeare?” Christine asked.

Mr. Reyes gave the both of them a deadpan look. “The man is dead. Let it go.” He turned back to everyone else. “We will now take a five minute break, so that I can eat a hot pocket.”

Everyone except for Rich, Christine, and Jake ran out. Yes, this was his chance!

But before he could speak, Jake did.

“Hey, you were in that play last year.”

Christine turned around, apparently noticing him for the first time. “Um, yes. You mean Romeo & Juliet?”

“Yeah, you were that girl who died!”

Both Rich and Christine blinked at him.

“…You mean Juliet?” Christine asked.

“Yeah! Man, that was depressing.”

“Um, thanks…?”

“Hey, but… you were good. I’m Jake.”

“I know.” Christine said softly.

Rich felt like he was watching all his hopes shatter in front of him and he hadn’t even said anything.

“Cool. Hey, can I say something stupid? When I saw you die in the play last year? That was the saddest I’d felt in a long time. It was like everything in my life, all the pressure I feel to be the best at everything all the time? It suddenly felt so small. And then, when you got up at the end for your victory dance…”

“Um, it’s called a bow.” Rich cut in, because he had to at least try to gain Jake’s attention.

Jake gave him a clearly irritated smile. “Right, yeah. Anyway.”

He looked away and Rich winced.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m glad that girl’s not dead… before I ever got the chance to know her.’ I mean, like I said, stupid, right?”

“That’s not stupid at all.” Christine said, still staring at Jake.

Jake grinned. “Cool. Hey, a bunch of us are going out after practice today. You should join. Uh, ‘Parting is such sweet…’”

“Sorrow?” Christine asked.

Jake shrugged. “Sure, that.”

“Uh, hey!” Rich tried to cut in. “So, I heard this thing about how humans aren’t evolving anymore—”

“I’m sorry, Rich. Did you say something?” Christine asked, still not looking away from Jake.

Rich looked back between Christine and Jake for a second, then took a step back. “Uh, no. Forget it, I actually uh, I’ll be right back.”

He turned and walked for the bathroom before he did something stupid like cry. He groaned and shoved his backpack onto the sink, about to bury his face in it, before he noticed the ‘boyf’ still written there. He sighed and turned on the water to start scrubbing at it, in order to at least have something to do.

“Hey!”

Rich jumped and whirled around.

“I thought I told you not to wash that off!” Jeremy snapped, crossing his arms.

“Uh…”

Jeremy scoffed and turned away, walking over to one of the urinals. “Maybe you could try talking to me once in awhile. I thought you were supposed to be good with words. Or are you just afraid you’ll ‘thound thupid?’”

“How can you talk to people while you’re… um—” Rich started, purposely ignoring the lisp comment.

“Confidence.” Jeremy cut him off with a smirk.

Rich opened his mouth to come up with something else to say, in order to hopefully avoid getting beaten up, when Jeremy started twitching, and muttering to himself. Rich gaped at him for a minute, more scared than before.

“Okay I just remembered I don’t have to pee after all—” Rich said in a breath, moving quickly for the door.

“Don’t move!” Jeremy spat, suddenly grabbing his arm. Rich froze.

“Wh-what—” Rich started.

Jeremy zipped up his pants and turned to face him. He looked Rich up and down, like he was scrutinizing every flaw. “God,” he muttered. “You really are pathetic, aren’t you?”

“Jesus, if you just want to insult me all the time—”

“Oh, if I jutht want to inthult you? Shut your face.”

“What do you want?” Rich asked, managing to pull his arm away and back up a little bit.

“I wasn’t always like this, you know.”

Rich narrowed his eyes, starting to get a little ticked off. “I know that, Mikey’s told me—”

“Shut up!” Jeremy slammed Rich into the wall, and Rich couldn’t help the cry that escaped. “You don’t get to nickname him! You ever call him that again to my face—”

“What do you _ want?” _ Rich whimpered.

Jeremy dropped Rich fast enough that he fell flat on his butt. “I was just like you, you know. A loser, lonely, pathetic. You wanna know how I got like this?”

Rich was smart enough not to say anything.

Jeremy stood tall over him. “I got a Squip.”

Rich swallowed. “You bought a squid?”

“_ Squip, _you moron. S.Q.U.I.P. It stands for Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. It’s a Japanese Supercomputer that gets in your head and helps you accomplish your goals.” Jeremy tipped his head at him. “You’ve got a gross little crush on my best friend, right? It could help you with that.”

Rich couldn’t help but stare. “Are you high?”

To his shock, Jeremy laughed. “That’s exactly how I reacted.” He mimed wiping a tear from your eye. “Look, I guess I’m sorry for treating you like shit all the time. I only did it ‘cause my Squip said I had to. But now, it’s saying you might want a Squip of your own. So.”

Rich finally managed to stand up. “So, it’s like… _ drugs?” _ he whispered.

Jeremy stared at him like he was a sad little puppy. “You’re best friends with Michael, and you whisper drugs like it’s a swear. Sweet Lord.” He rubbed at the spot between his eyes. “It’s better than drugs, dipshit.” He sighed. “Look, I’ve got a hookup at Payless, at the Menlo Park Mall. It’s 600.”

_ “Dollars?” _ Rich exclaimed.

“It’s worth it, clearly.” Jeremy said, gesturing at himself. “Bring the money Monday. You’ll see.”

With that, he stalked out of the bathroom, not even bothering to wash his hands, and leaving Rich there to wonder what the fuck had just happened.

…

“So… what do you think?” Rich asked, dodging another zombie.

Michael scoffed. “I think Jeremy is really bad at coming up with excuses for why he abandons people. A Japanese supercomputer? Gimme a break.”

“Okay, but like, what if he’s serious Mikey? He said it could help me with Jake! And think about it, all I’d have to do is give the guy—” Rich stopped. “Who _ torments _ me. 600… oh my god, he’s totally scamming me.”

“Uh-huh.” Michael said, in an ‘uh, duh’ voice.

“God.” Rich leaned back on the bed and shoved his hands over his eyes. “I am never going to have a chance with Jake.”

“Hmm… maybe not.”

Rich shot Michael a deadpan look. “Gee, thanks.”

“But it doesn’t matter, dude! Come on, you’ll meet plenty of other amazing guys and girls throughout your life. It’ll be fine.”

Rich bit his lip, but they ultimately both sat back and went back to slaughtering zombies.

Rich was thinking more than he was paying attention, though. Jeremy said his hookup was at Payless… what if Rich went to see if he was telling the truth? He could ask Michael to go with him, and they could—

No.

No, Michael clearly didn’t want anything to do with this whether it was real or not. Besides, they most likely weren’t real anyway. He could go, not bother Michael with his annoying problems, and he would never even have to know in the first place. He’d go tomorrow before anyone else was up. It’s not like anyone else was up super early on a Saturday anyway. He could be there and back before anyone realized (likely with a few more crushed hopes, but he could deal with that).

…

“Uh, hello?” Rich called, walking into the surprisingly empty Payless. “Is anyone here?”

A person walked out of back gave Rich a once-over, and gestured him over.

“Let’s see the money.” he said when Rich walked close enough.

“Huh?”

“You’re here for a Squip, are you not?”

Rich blinked at him. “How did you know?”

The guy scoffed. “I’m not new at this, kid.”

Rich pulled out the $600 he’d brought. He stolen some of Michael’s— he felt pretty bad about that, but he didn’t think this thing would actually be real.

“That’s 400?” the guy asked.

“400? But the guy at my school said—”

“I don’t do sales, idiot. 400.”

“Uh… if you insist.” Rich shoved the two hundred dollars he’d borrowed back in his pocket and handed the other four hundred to the guy. Now he could give Michael his money back. Win-win.

The guy disappeared into the back of the store. He reappeared with a shoebox of ladies running shoes, but when he opened it it was full of gray pills. He handed one to Rich.

“Just so we're clear, this is untested technology. And it's not exactly legal, which is why you're paying for it with cash in the back of a shoe store. I take no responsibility for what you might do with it. Or what it might do with you.”

“Uh, what it might—“

“To activate, take it with Mountain Dew. I DON’T KNOW WHY!” he snapped before Rich could say anything. “Just something about Mountain Dew. Oh, and one more thing, this part’s important— I’m sold out!”

Rich whirled around to see Jenna Rolan.

“Of… shoes?” she asked in bafflement.

“Oh. Oh, you’re here for shoes. My bad.” He turned back to Rich. “Scram, kid.”

“Wait, you were saying something important?” Rich asked.

“Oh yeah. All sales final.”

He then turned to go help Jenna find her shoes.

Rich took the Squip out of the store and bought a Mountain Dew in the food court. He walked into the bathroom after deciding that if he was gonna have a voice in his head, he might want some privacy due to not wanting to, you know. Seem crazy.

That turned out to be the right move.

**Calibration in process. Please excuse some mild discomfort.**

“Ow, _ fuck! _” Rich cried.

His head felt like it was pulsing, but about a million times worse. He nearly screamed. Thank God the bathroom was empty.

**Calibration complete. Access procedure initiated.**

The pain stopped, and Rich breathed a sigh of relief.

**Discomfort level may increase.**

What?

Rich did scream this time. He really hoped no one heard this.

**Accessing neural memory**

**Accessing muscle memory**

**Access procedure complete**

**Rich Goranski**

**Welcome to your Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor**

**Your Squip.**

The pain stopped again, hopefully for good.

Rich looked up. “Woah.” he whispered.

**Do not speak to me out loud, idiot. Just think at me.**

_ Uh… sorry. Why do you— _

**Wait.**

What must have been his Squip blinked as if it was processing something.

_ Uh— _

**I said ** ** _wait._ ** His Squip looked back at him. **Can you hear me?**

Rich stopped. The Squip looked away again.

A second later the Squip looked back. **Now you may continue.**

_ Why do you look like Michael? _

**It is simpler if I take the form of a person you trust. Michael is someone you greatly admire. But if you have a different form in mind, I can always—**

_ No, um. Michael is fine, I guess. _

**I thought we had already established that you should not interrupt me. Are you particularly slow in school?**

_ What? No. _

**Excellent. Then I will not need to repeat myself.**

Rich couldn’t help but wrinkle his nose. _ You don’t really sound like Michael. _

**I am well aware. Do not pretend you know more than me about my own behavior. I will not attempt to behave like Michael. It would be quite counterintuitive to your goal.**

_ My goal? _

**Jake Dillinger. Correct?**

_ Um… _

**So I am correct.**

_ I didn’t say— _

**There is more to communication than simply words. You clearly do not understand this.**

Rich opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

**Would you prefer to stand there looking stupid, or would you like to get started?**

_ What are we doing? _

**Come with me.**

The Squip started to walk out of the bathroom, and Rich followed it. _ Are we going home? Because I kind of need to return Michael’s car— _

**Later. First we need to buy you some new clothes.**

The Squip led him to a nearby clothing store.

**Take that one.**

_ The Eminem one? _

**Yes.**

_ I really don’t like Eminem. _

**Irrelevant. I know better than you, Rich. The sooner you accept that, the easier this will be.**

Rich snorted a little.

**Is something amusing?**

_ Just a little weird to hear Michael’s voice make the argument that he’s smarter than me. _

The Squip leveled him with a glare. **I may not be Michael, but I am most certainly smarter than you.**

_ I— _

**The shirt, Rich.** the Squip said, and before Rich could say anything else, he felt a shock near the base of his spine. He yelped.

_ Did you just shock me? _

**If you continue to point out obvious observations, we will be here all day.**

“Rich?”

Rich whirled around to see Chloe and Brooke walking in.

“You shop here?” Chloe asked.

Rich side-eyed the Squip, which shook its head. “Uh, not really.”

Brooke gave him a strange look. “Why are you hear then?”

Rich tried to glance subtly at the Squip, which smacked its forehead with a sigh. **Repeat after me.**

“They just don’t normally have Eminem shirts, is all.” Rich said. He blinked in shock.

_ My lisp is gone. _

**A simple fix, Rich. Focus on Chloe.**

“Oh.” Chloe said. “I didn’t take you as someone who likes Eminem.”

“Yeah, it surprises a lot of people.”

“Hey, I’ve seen you around school.” Brooke said.

“Yeah, uh—”

“You’re the kid Jeremy bullies.” Brooke realized.

Ouch.

“Brooke!” Chloe snapped, to his surprise. Brooke was apparently just as surprised, because she glanced over too.

Chloe sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. “Look, I’m sorry about how Jeremy treats you.” Chloe said.

Rich blinked in surprise. What exactly was happening?

**Chloe feels bad for you. I thought that would be simple enough to figure out.**

_ She feels bad for me? Is that good or bad? _

**That remains to be seen.**

“Look.” Chloe continued. “Maybe this is out of nowhere, but do you want to come to Pinkberry with us? As long as that’s good with you, Brooke?”

Brooke still looked a little surprised, but she nodded.

**Yes.** the Squip said quickly.

“Oh, I would love to. But— I have to take my friend Michael’s car home.”

**Rich.** the Squip shocked him, and Rich jerked a little.

Both Chloe and Brooke blinked at him.

A second later Brooke wrinkled her nose. “Oh yeah. You’re friends with Michael.”

“Uh… is that bad?”

**Rich. ** the Squip said in exasperation. **Read the room.**

Brooke hummed in consideration. “No, I guess it’s not your fault.”

“Not my fault?”

**Rich, stop responding to everything they say with a question. It makes you look stupid. And you are going to Pinkberry.**

_ But I have to take Michael’s car home— _

**It’s 10AM on a Saturday. He won’t be up for another two hours at least. Now let’s ** ** _go._ **

“I guess I can go to Pinkberry, sure.” Rich said before Brooke explained why being Michael’s friend wasn’t “his fault.”

“Oh.” Brooke blinked in surprise at his sudden conversation change and decision change. “Okay, cool.”

“We can take Brooke’s mom’s car or you can follow us in Michael’s if you want.”

**Go in the car with them.**

“I could ride with you, if that’s cool.”

“Sure.” Brooke said, holding up her car keys. “Let’s go.”

…

Surprisingly, Brooke and Chloe were very cool people. Chloe did seem to genuinely feel bad about how he was treated by Jeremy, and while Rich would have asked why exactly she never did anything, the Squip told him to let it go, so he did.

Brooke was a huge sweetheart, and once Rich got past her weird comment of being Michael’s friend not being his fault, they got along really well, and very naturally. The Squip guiding most of the conversation probably helped, though.

It was really easy to lose track of time, and before Rich realized, it was 3 in the afternoon and he was still sitting in Pinkberry talking to Brooke and Chloe.

Michael hadn’t asked anything about his car, however, and the Squip told him it was fine.

Brooke and Chloe drove him back to the mall around 4, after which the Squip told him they were not done shopping, and they went back inside.

After getting a few new outfits, getting dinner in the food court, and going back and browsing the bookstore for awhile, Rich went home exhausted.

When he walked past the upstairs bathroom door he heard the shower running— that must have been Michael.

Rich went downstairs, put the keys on Michael’s bedside table, and collapsed into his own bed— he could tell Michael what had happened tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

“I don’t like this decision.” Jeremy said aloud as soon as he walked into his room.

**Jeremy, I have already explained to you all of the reasons that Rich getting a Squip will benefit us.**

“Yeah well—”

Shock.

**In your head, Jeremy.**

Jeremy sat on his bed, and looked at the Squip across the room. _ Yeah, well I don’t care! I don’t want him to have a Squip. _

**Why not? If you are going to say he does not deserve the help—**

_ No, that’s— not what I was going to say. _

And it wasn’t. But Jeremy couldn’t really pin down the reason he didn’t want Rich to have a Squip.

**What is this about, Jeremy?**

_ I— I don’t like calling Rich gay. And I don’t like calling his crush on Jake gross. It’s not gross. _

**Oh, for heaven’s sake. Are we back to this argument again?**

_ I don’t like saying homophobic stuff! Why are you acting like that is so unreasonable? _

**Jeremy, I have told you many times that homosexual behavior is simply in conflict with your goal to be more chill.**

_ I don’t. Like. Being homophobic. _

The Squip shocked him. **Do ** ** _not_ ** ** take that tone with me.**

_ I’m sorry. _ Jeremy thought quickly.

**Jeremy, it seems to me that the only reason you are so against this is because you used to have a gay best friend.**

_ So? _

**We have been over this.**

_ I— _

**You should not be making moral decisions based on Michael Mell.**

_ Why not? _

**Because I am astounded you still care about him.**

_ Of course I still care about him. _ If it was possible to mumble in his head, Jeremy was doing it. _ I’ve known him since I was five years old. It would be impossible not to care about him. _

**He doesn’t care about you.**

Jeremy looked down. _ I know. But that’s not— _

**You drove him away due to being such a worthless failure.**

Jeremy leaned away from the Squip slightly, but said nothing.

**Now we are going to provide Rich with this Squip whether you like it or not.**

_ But I don’t like it. I thought you took my opinion into account. _

**When your opinion is worth taking into account, which it seldom is.**

_ But— _

**_Jeremy!_** the Squip snapped suddenly.

Jeremy flinched and nearly leapt backwards.

**Have you not learned by now not to question me? Have you not learned by now that I know better than you do? Answer me this: are you worth ** ** _anything_ ** ** without me?**

Jeremy shook his head, pressing himself back against his wall.

**So is there ** ** _any_ ** ** reason you should be questioning my decision?**

Jeremy shook his head again, and shut his eyes.

**Jeremy.**

Jeremy hesitantly opened his eyes to find his mother’s face inches above his.

**You have in your possession a large amount of Squips, do you not?**

Jeremy nodded, shaking.

**Are you physically able to give Rich one of those Squips?**

Jeremy nodded again.

**Excellent. I am telling you to do so. So what are you going to do?**

“Do it.” Jeremy whispered.

Shock.

**In your head, Jeremy. This is basic knowledge of having a Squip.**

_ I’m going to give Rich a Squip. _

**Right. Because your opinion is not worth looking into, do you understand?**

Jeremy nodded again.

**Finally. Now get up. We have work to do.**

…

Jeremy found it rather hard to focus as he got ready Monday morning. He felt like he should be looking over his shoulder to check for danger. But that was ridiculous. The only thing there was his Squip.

Shock.

**Jeremy. Jake is waiting for an answer.**

Wait, what?

Jeremy looked up. Oh. He was standing at his locker. But wasn’t he just getting dressed?

His Squip sighed. **Repeat after me.**

“Oh, yeah. Totally. I’ll be there.”

Jake grinned. “Sweet.”

The warning bell rang, and Jake walked off towards English, Jeremy hanging back for a moment to talk with his Squip.

_ What did I just agree to? _

**You were simply reaffirming that you will be present at rehearsal for moral support.**

_ Oh, okay. _

The rest of the day passed in between blank spots, to the point where the Squip had to shock him dozens of times to get him to focus.

**Jeremy, you have not behaved well today in the slightest. **his Squip said in irritation as they were getting his stuff from his locker at the end of the day.

_ Sorry. I’m sorry. It’s just an off day. I’m fine. _

His Squip sighed. **Turn around. Rich is coming towards you.**

Jeremy did just that. The Squip took over his body and made him stand up straighter. “Hey!” he called. “Where’s my money?”

Suddenly, Jeremy heard a new voice in his head— it was so distinctly Michael that his Squip had to stop him from tearing up. **Up up down down left right A.**

Jeremy suddenly felt himself grinning at Rich. “You got one!”

“Yeah, sorry, I meant to go through you, but— don’t hit me!” Rich cried, jumping backwards.

“Rich, this is awesome!” Jeremy called.

Well. It wasn’t, but Jeremy wasn’t going to dare try and fight his Squip on that.

“Dude, you gotta come over, I can teach you all about it!” Jeremy’s mouth continued, independent of him. “My Dad won’t care, you can come over any time, and we can play video games and I’ll tell you how these things work.”

“Uh, yeah.” Rich said, starting to smile. “I’ll be there.”

Oh, a night with the person Michael replaced him with. That sounded wonderful in so many ways.

Rich walked off, and Jeremy ran around the corner, late bell be damned.

_ Hello? Squip? What just happened? _

**Adjusting to new instructions.**

_ Uh… what? _

His Squip blinked and focused its attention back on Jeremy. **I am now synced with Rich’s Squip.** it informed him.

_ What does that mean? _

**We now have to act in ways that help Rich as well as you. This means we can no longer help Jake with his crush.**

_ Wait, we were doing that before? _

**Not much. Simply text Jake informing him something came up suddenly and you cannot make it this afternoon.**

_ But— _

** _Now._**

Jeremy had never pulled out his phone so fast.

He found himself wandering his way out to the front of the school, but stopped near the exit when he saw Rich around the corner, talking to thin air. What in the world?

“Michael?” Rich asked. “Hey, there you are!”

Michael.

_ Let me see. _

**Jeremy.**

_ Let me see, please. _

His Squip sighed and there was a jolt in his head, and suddenly Michael was standing in front of Rich. Jeremy ducked farther behind the corner.

“Where have you been?” Rich continued.

“Really?” Michael asked, crossing his arms. “You’re not the one who’s been avoiding me?”

Rich’s look turned to one of confusion. “What are you talking about, I haven’t seen you since—”

Rich stopped, and it took Jeremy a second to realize he was talking to his Squip.

“Rich?” Michael asked. “Are you not going to acknowledge me when I’m standing right in front of—”

He stopped.

Rich looked back at him.

“You got one of those things.” Michael said. “You’re telling me they’re actually _ real? _ And you _ got one?” _

“Michael—”

“What, are you going to abandon me now too?”

_ Too? _

**Do you want to see what they’re saying or not? Pay attention.**

“What? Mikey, no of course not—”

“Wow. Okay.” Michael buried his hands in his hair. “You know what, fuck you too, Rich!”

“What? Mikey, no I— I would never—”

“No! I am not doing this again! Not again! Just— God, just go to hell!”

Jeremy backed up in time in time to get into the nearest classroom before Michael ran around the corner.

_ Michael— Michael said abandon me _ too. _ Does Michael think I abandoned him? _

**Don’t be ridiculous. Michael doesn’t care about you.**

Jeremy looked down. “Right,” he mumbled aloud.

Suddenly the door to the classroom slammed open, and in walked Michael himself.

He looked up and blinked at Jeremy in shock, while Jeremy found himself staring at Michael like he was a man dying of thirst and Michael was an oasis.

Then Michael gave a bitter laugh. “Well, I am just having fantastic luck today.” he said, burying his hands in his hair once again.

Jeremy stared at Michael, having no clue what to say.

Michael looked older. Obviously older. Had he looked older back in February? Jeremy didn’t remember. He was still wearing his signature hoodie. Jeremy wanted to touch it.

His shoulders looked a little more hunched and his eyes looked a little more tired. Jeremy wondered what had caused that.

Michael half-glared up at Jeremy like he was expecting him to say something. Had he said something and Jeremy missed it?

“I’m sorry,” Jeremy blurted. His Squip didn’t stop him, probably because he wasn’t even sure he was going to say it. “I’m sorry that Rich— I’m sorry.”

Michael’s half-glare turned into a death glare. “Fuck. You. You’re the one who told him about it in the first place, asshole.”

Jeremy backed away and said nothing again.

“Well?” Michael sounded _ pissed. _ “Say something! Defend yourself, tell me to fuck off, I don’t actually care! Just stop ignoring me!”

Jeremy nearly stumbled backwards, stopped only by his Squip grabbing his legs.

“I—” his Squip stopped him before he could even try to finish that sentence.

Jeremy looked down at his shoes.

“Oh wow.” Michael growled. “Eloquence at its finest. Are you failing English, Jeremy? I have a friend you could ask to help you with that, since you enticed him with your shitty computer.”

Jeremy said nothing, again, and continued to stare at his shoes.

Michael groaned in frustration, then turned and stormed back out of the classroom.

Jeremy sniffed hard and rubbed at his eyes.

His Squip sighed irritably in the background. **Jeremy.**

_ Please just leave me alone. _

**Jeremy. ** His Squip’s tone was sharper, and his name was accompanied with a shock.

Jeremy coughed out a sob and rubbed his eyes dry before the Squip could dry them for him.

**Jake assumed you went home immediately after school and has already left. I will allow you to walk home to gain control of your emotions.**

Jeremy barely mustered up a ‘Thank you’ before the Squip forcibly dried his eyes and walk him out of the school, only giving him control back when Jeremy was in no more danger of crying.

From there Jeremy walked the rest of the distance home, walked immediately up to his room and collapsed on his bed. He buried his face in his pillow.

He must have fallen asleep, because it felt like a couple seconds that the Squip woke him up, informing him that Rich would be arriving in two minutes.

Jeremy took a deep breath, feeling much better after his unintentional nap.

He pushed himself up, changed his outfit so it didn’t look so wrinkled, and walked downstairs just as Rich was knocking.

It was after 7, meaning his dad would be up in his room for the rest of the night, so they wouldn’t have to worry about him.

Jeremy opened the door, and Rich walked into the living room looking uncertain.

“Hang on, I’ll grab some chips.” Jeremy said, and walked into the kitchen to do just that. He grabbed the bag of general brand potato chips in the pantry and walked back into the living room, dropping the bag on the coffee table.

“Uh, thanks?” Rich said hesitantly, sitting down.

“Dude, you don’t have to look at me like I’m going to bite you.” Jeremy said, crossing his arms. His Squip was being suspiciously quiet.

**You are simply playing video games with Rich and teaching him a little about Squips. I am confident you won’t step out of line. In fact, I will see you in a few hours.**

The Squip vanished, but it felt less like it was giving him freedom and more like a threat.

“It’s not like that’s too crazy a suspicion.” Rich muttered, crossing his arms.

“Hey, look, that thing got rid of your stupid lisp.” Jeremy said, because he had been told to treat this kid like shit for about half a year, and it was hard to erase that in one afternoon.

“Hey!” Rich snapped. “I thought we were supposed to be on the same level or something now! I thought you were gonna teach me about Squips!”

Jeremy nearly snarled. “Yeah, because my Squip is making me because yours synced with it or something. But you might as well get it in your dumb head now. I don’t like you.”

“What did I ever do to you?” Rich asked in what appeared to be genuine confusion and nervousness.

“Spare me. Don’t act like you don’t fucking know.”

Rich gave a sigh of disappointment. “Okay, fine. I’m gonna leave then.” He then gave a little half-glare back at Jeremy. “You know I thought, maybe, you might not actually be so bad. But I honestly don’t know what Mikey ever saw in you.”

The sentence hit Jeremy like a slap. But like hell if he was going to cry in front of _ Richard Goranski. _

“I told you not to say that fucking nickname around me!” Jeremy snapped.

“Yeah, well you don’t get to tell me what to do anymore!” Rich snapped right back. “Now I get to tell you! Because I have a Squip just like you do, and mine synced so it’s better than yours!”

Jeremy screamed through his teeth. “You don’t get it!”

Rich scowled. “Get what?”

“Of course you don’t get it!” Jeremy laughed, grabbing the back of his head. “You’ve had your Squip for three days, I don’t know why I expected you to get it!”

“Get _ what?” _

Jeremy glared at Rich. “Just go home, Rich. I can’t— I can’t deal with you.”

With that, he turned around and stormed back up to his room without checking to make sure Rich was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Michael, pacing back and forth in his bedroom, wasn’t sure what feel at this point. First of all, what the hell was Rich thinking? Second, Jeremy had one of these things too?

Those two questions pretty much summed up all of his thoughts in the past half a day, and Michael wasn’t even going to _ try _ and address the second one, so he was going to focus on the first.

Okay, Rich. What the hell?

That was a sum-up too, but his feelings were really a lot more complicated than that.

First of all (again), why in the world would Rich take advice from the high school bully cliché formerly known as Jeremy Heere? (And Jeremy had one of those things too— nope, not going there.) Michael could understand the unrequited crush thing, but Jeremy Heere? Really?

What were those things like anyway?

…If they could turn Jeremy into— _ that— _

No, not going there!

But either way, they didn’t sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And it was super great how he was getting shoved to the side in all this. But hey, who wanted to be friends with Michael Mell long term anyway, right? He’s a loser! He’s just there for people to hang out with until they decide to take a supercomputer and become popular!

“Right?” Michael said aloud, sitting back on his bed with a sigh.

Before he could continue on his running-off-the-track train of thought, the door to the basement opened and Rich walked in.

“Mikey!” he called.

Michael glared at him and turned away, plopping down on his bed. He was not dealing with this right now.

“Mikey, please. Can we talk?”

Michael groaned inwardly, but goddammit, it was Rich, and at this point he was practically family.

_ So was Jeremy. _ hissed a cruel voice in his head. Michael shoved it away and turned to face Rich, sitting up. “What?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Mikey— Michael, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to make you feel like I was going to abandon you too.”

“You did a great job of that.” Michael said.

“I’m sorry.” Rich stepped forward. “I’m sorry, I’m not— Michael, this isn’t going to change anything. I am not leaving you behind, I promise.”

Michael gave him a look of disbelief.

“I _ promise.” _ Rich emphasized. “I got this thing because Jeremy said it could help me have a chance with Jake. But I am not going to leave you behind.”

“Forgive me if I have a hard time believing you.” Michael said, standing up.

“Mikey.” Rich stepped forward, and before Michael could protest, he wrapped his arms around him. “I promise I will not abandon you. I swear it on— on my favorite copy of _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” _

Michael leaned back as he raised his eyebrows. “The illustrated one with that amazing art?”

Rich nodded.

Well, that was a high promise.

And Rich did seem very adamant in the fact that he was going to stick by him…

Michael sighed. “Okay. Okay Rich, I trust you.”

Rich smiled gratefully. “Thank you.”

And he meant it.

It would not, however, stop him from scouring the internet for everything on Squips that he could.

…

“Sorry Rich, but I don’t trust you _ that _ much.” Michael whispered to himself, working on his computer after Rich went to bed.

He couldn’t straight up tell Rich to get rid of the thing, he had made it very clear he wouldn’t listen. If this thing could give Rich a chance with Jake, he would try it. Michael would just have to watch his back.

But for some reason, Michael could find nothing on the internet about Squips _ at all, _which immediately raised about six red flags. Google tried to autocorrect him to squid.

He only stopped research when his eyes started burning from him holding them open for so long. He glanced over at his clock and found it was almost five in the morning. Well. He was going to be a zombie tomorrow.

Today.

Michael sighed, set his computer to the side, and laid down to try and go to sleep.

…

“Hey.”

Michael jerked awake at Rich’s voice, unsure for a second why he felt so desperate…

And then he remembered what had happened yesterday. He had been half sure Rich would be gone this morning.

The next second he felt a little guilty for thinking that. Rich _ had _ promised.

He wanted to trust him.

This is what was running through Michael’s head. What came out of his mouth was more like “Hmgfbrguh.”

Rich laughed a little. “Yeah, you looked like you needed some extra sleep. How late were you up last night?”

“Firve.”

“Firve? Is that some kind of weird combination of four and five?” Rich paused. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. Either way it’s too late, ya moron. We’ve gotta go in fifteen. I made you some toast to eat in the car.”

“Y’re a good person.” Michael mumbled, reaching out blindly until his hand landed on Rich’s face.

Rich laughed, and passed Michael his glasses. Michael shoved them on his face and groaned one last time before shoving himself up and promptly falling off the bed onto his butt.

Rich laughed again.

“Shut up. Y’re… y’re a bad person.” Michael yawned.

“I thought I was a good person.” Rich said, sounding amused.

“Y’re a good person whose jokes’re dumb then.”

Rich laughed one more time, and reached down a hand to help Michael up.

Somehow, Michael barely remembered it but somehow, ten minutes later he was in the car eating his toast, while also driving with one hand. He wasn’t worried— he was actually a decent driver, even when he was half-dead tired— but this morning was different.

Because Rich was clearly having a conversation with his Squip.

He was staring resolutely at the spot in front of him, though nothing was there. Michael was sort of trying, and definitely failing, to ignore the awkward silence this brought.

He turned on some music to help him stay awake, only for Rich to yelp and practically slam his hand on the button that turned it off. “Jesus, Mikey. I know you’re tired, but what the hell?”

Michael blinked at Rich as they pulled up to a stoplight. “You—” he yawned. “You got something against Marley suddenly?”

“Dude, That wasn’t Marley. That was some kind of ear-splitting screech.”

Michael blinked at him again, both because of the statement and because something seemed to be wrong with his voice. “What are you talking about? Am I not hearing you right because I’m tired?”

“What—” Rich stopped and looked at the place in front of him again. Michael awkwardly looked out the front window for a couple seconds.

The light turned green. A couple seconds later a car honked and Michael pulled away.

“Oh, awesome.” Rich groaned. “It says it’s glitching or something, so some music is going to sound like ear-splitting screeching.”

Michael raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “You’ve had the thing for a few days, it should not be glitching.”

Rich paused again. “It says it’s working on it.”

“I’m going to fall asleep at the wheel.” Michael said. “Can you deal with some ear-splitting screeching so we don’t die?”

“It says it should only be some music. Let me find a song that isn’t screechy.”

Michael shrugged, and Rich’s face scrunched up as he moved from the CD to the radio, and continued to be scrunched up as he flipped through songs that seemed perfectly normal to Michael.

He finally stopped and leaned back in the seat with a sigh.

It was Michael’s turn to scrunch up his face. “Eminem? Really?”

“It’s better than screech.” Rich said.

“That’s an opinion.” Michael mumbled.

“You didn’t hear the screeching.”

“Wait, okay stop.”

Rich glanced back over as Michael pulled into the school. “What’s wrong with your voice?” Michael asked.

Rich tipped his head. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Michael pulled into a parking spot and turned to face Rich entirely. “No, you sound— weird… wait. Say that again.”

“Nothing’s wrong?”

“Again.”

“Uh… nothing is wrong with my voice.”

Michael stared at him. “Rich! Your lisp is gone!”

Rich made a little ‘oh,’ with his face. “Yeah, the Squip said it was a simple fix.”

Michael blinked and leaned back suspiciously. “Why does it need to be fixed in the first place?”

Rich shrugged. “I don’t know. I would imagine the supercomputer probably knows that better than me.”

Michael bit his lip. “Rich—”

“Oh, shoot! Sorry Michael, it says we’ve gotta go or we’ll be late. Hold that thought?”

“Yeah, sure.” Michael said in a way that was decidedly not sure.

“See you at lunch!” Rich called before jogging off.

Michael stretched one more time, climbed out of his car, and after remembering to lock it, walked into the school and prepared to sleep through his first four classes.

…

Michael managed to wake up around the end of the fourth period and almost start some more research on Squips, but the bell rang before he could really focus. He yawned and stretched yet again and started for his locker to grab his lunch.

He walked into the lunch room and looked around for Rich, who, thank God, was at their normal table. He waved at Michael, and Michael walked over and sat down.

“Hey, you’ll never guess what happened this morning.” Rich said excitedly. Michael had to take a minute to process what he said, with the lack of a lisp throwing him off.

“Uh… I slept through four class periods.”

“Of course you did. I meant to _ me.” _

“Okay… you slept through four class periods.”

“Michael.” Rich put on his mock ‘Disapproving Teacher Voice.’ “We have discussed rhetorical questions, have we not?”

Michael rolled his eyes and leaned forward on his hand, glad that for the moment this felt very normal. “You never technically asked a question, dummy.”

Rich paused, and blinked. “Holy shit, you’re actually right.”

“Whoo!” Michael called, throwing his hands in the air. “Point for Michael!”

Rich laughed. “Okay, but seriously. You know what happened?”

“It has been reiterated several times that I do not. Wait, reiterated. Did I use that right?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” Rich said. He leaned forward. _ “Brooke Lohst and Chloe Valentine spoke to me. _ And they were like, friendly! I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after the Pinkberry visit, but still!”

Rich continued to ramble on about exactly what had happened, and Michael grew a little more uneasy as the sense of normalcy faded.

A couple minutes had passed and Michael was starting to wonder how many details there could be in what had seemed to be a brief conversation, when the two girls they were talking about walked up to the table.

“Rich, hey.” Chloe said. “You can come sit with us if you want. You don’t have to sit with…” her gaze withered as she looked at Michael. “Him.”

“Way to nail the subtlety, Chloe Valentine.” Michael said as he took a bite out of a baby carrot.

Chloe’s expression changed to a glare.

“Uh… I’m good here,” Rich replied. “Thanks, though.”

Chloe and Brooke both exchanged a glance before walking away.

“Y’know,” Michael said in mock interest as they walked away. “I could be assuming things, but I think they might hate me.”

“Yeah… they’re like that,” Rich admitted. “I honestly don’t know what their problem is with you.”

“I can think of a few ideas,” Michael mumbled. “And most of them involve their status in this high school’s pointless hierarchy. And mine.”

Rich hummed in agreement, and the conversation turned to what it often did.

“Jake still seems annoyed by me.” Rich sighed and put his chin in his hands. “He’s dating Christine now, which sucks, but I also tried to talk to him in English this morning, and he just kind of looked at me.”

“Yikes. Sorry, man.” Michael said, because he could always be there for crush problems.

“I don’t know why he seems to be irritated by my general presence,” Rich groaned. “Am I doing something wrong?”

“Come on, no way.” Michael said. “Rich, you’re fantastic. And Jake should thank his lucky stars that you like him. Go get to know him. I’m sure he’ll like you back, even just as a friend.”

Rich smiled at him. “Thanks, Mikey. You’re the best.”

Michael scoffed. “Yeah, you tell me like I don’t already know.”

Rich laughed.

Finally, lunch moved back to normalcy and seemed to stay there. Rich continued to move on to ramble about Jake, and Michael got his own chance to ramble about this new documentary that he completely made up.

The only thing he’d researched lately was the Squip. He couldn’t tell Rich about that, it had to be done incognito. So he was forced to bullshit some stuff about squids.

Okay, look, he kinda had a one-track mind right now, okay?

…

That night was also dedicated to research. Michael figured he was going to be pretty tired for a while.

At least Rich went to bed objectively way too early so he had a couple extra hours to research before he passed out on his pillow.

Unfortunately, the research wasn’t having much luck. He was finding a bunch of stuff on the potential dangers of artificial intelligence, mostly from conspiracy theory sites, and a couple more scientific looking sites about how artificial intelligence worked in general. But when he got at all close to anything that sounded like a Squip, it all said the same thing— that technology like that was a long way off.

Michael groaned and rubbed at his eyes. Come on, it was the _ internet. _ You could find _ everything _ on the internet. There had to be something about Squips somewhere.

But whatever it was, it seemed determined to elude him.

Michael glanced over towards Rich. “You can’t hack my computer, can you?” Michael asked, hoping the Squip could hear him.

Silence. Duh.

“Yeah, well I don’t trust you.” Michael said like he had gotten a response, mostly to annoy the thing if it could hear him.

“Fuck you too.” Michael said in a voice that was hopefully snooty enough to piss the thing off.

Michael groaned. “And now I’m talking to an empty room like a crazy person. Clearly the first sign that I have been up far too long. Goodnight, cruel world.”

Michael was indeed about to lay down and go to sleep, when he thought of one more thing he could try. If the internet had nothing… he’d have to resort to the nightmare known as talking to other people.

He grabbed for his phone and walked out of the basement, hitting call on the number as he did so.

It rang twice by the time he sat down at the kitchen table. And then the person picked up.

“Hello?” grumbled the voice on the other end.

“Matt,” Michael hissed. “I need to tell you something.”

“Michael? It’s… two in the morning, man.”

“I think Rich is in trouble.”

There was something on the other line that sounded suspiciously like falling out of a bed. “What happened?” came Matt’s much more awake voice.

“Have you ever heard of a thing called a Squip?”

“A what?”

“Squip. S.Q.U.I.P. It’s a supercomputer. You haven’t heard of it?”

“That sounds like something Rich would come up with for a story.”

“Matt, I swear they’re real. And Rich took one. And I don’t trust it.””

“Okay, hang on.” Matt said. There was a pause, and the sound of a door opening and closing. “Sorry, trying not to wake up my roommate Jasmine.” Matt said. “Okay. Tell me everything.”


	10. Chapter 10

Jake would admit it, okay? Rich Goranski annoyed the hell out of him.

Maybe that was a little unfair. It was hardly Rich’s fault that he was the person Michael decided to snatch up to take Jeremy off his hands (unless it was his fault, and in that case, _ fuck _ him).

But why did he have to hang around all of a sudden? Why did Chloe have to pity him so much? Why did _ Jeremy _ of all people seem unbothered?

Was he the asshole holding a grudge for no reason? If Jeremy could let it go, shouldn’t he do the same?

Wait. No. Fuck that. Jeremy wasn’t even mad at _ Michael. _

He did feel kinda bad for the guy whenever he caught Jeremy bullying him, but when he thought of everything that had happened as a result of him being friends with Michael… it wasn’t that hard to turn a blind eye.

But now suddenly, Jeremy was friends with him? And Chloe and Brooke were too? Was he the only one bothered by the situation?

The whole thing was annoying as well as confusing, so he decided to consult the person who always seemed to know what was happening with everyone.

“Yo, Jenna!” He caught up with her at the end of a school day as she was about to walk into the theatre.

Jenna turned and faced him.

“Do you have any idea why everyone is suddenly such damn good friends with Rich Goranski?”

Jenna shrugged. “I think Chloe and Brooke feel bad for how Jeremy used to treat him. Jeremy still hates him, though.”

“What? No he doesn’t. He’s the main one suddenly talking about how great he is.”

Jenna raised an eyebrow. “I’m not surprised you haven’t noticed, Jake, because you have the social awareness of a toddler—”

“Wha— hey!”

“—but every time you mention being annoyed by Rich, Jeremy gives you an appreciative look. He still hates him, he’s just not willing to say it.” Now Jenna’s face scrunched up in confusion. “For some reason.”

Jenna turned back to him. “And also,” her face softened a little. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so hard on Rich.”

Jake crossed his arms. “You know who we’re talking about, right? You are aware of what happened with Michael?”

“Of course I am. But I doubt much of that was Rich’s fault. He also seems like a cool guy, if I’m being honest. And Jake.” Jenna’s look softened more. “He really likes you.”

“Yeah, well I think he picked the wrong person. I don’t exactly plan to be friends with him.”

Jenna sighed. “No, Jake. I mean…” she sighed. “I think he has a crush on you.”

Jake blinked. “Uh. What.”

“It’s hardly new, half the school does. Just don’t actively try to break his heart, okay? He doesn’t deserve it.”

And she walked into the theatre, leaving Jake to process the bombshell she just dropped.

Holy shit, what? Rich had a crush on him? He didn’t even know this kid. He kind of _ hated _ him.

Rich had a crush on him?

Okay, he needed a minute.

Jake walked a little ways away from the theatre as he began to think.

First of all, he liked Christine. That was the whole point of doing this play. Christine also liked him. They were kind of dating?

Second, Rich Goranski? I-read-books-in-school, am-a-total-loser, stole-your-best-friends-best-friend, am-someone-you-haven’t-spoken-two-words-to Rich Goranski?

Maybe… he could just ignore it. He was great at ignoring things! Except for the fact that every time he looked at Rich this was now going to be where his thoughts went. Thanks a lot, Jenna.

Seriously, he knew she had a tendency to overshare sometimes, but he kinda wish she’d kept this particular piece of information to herself.

Jake managed to shove the thoughts to the side for now as he arrived at the theatre.

He walked inside to see his actual girlfriend sitting down near the stage.

“Hey, gorgeous.” he leaned over the chair arm.

Christine smiled up at him. “Hi.” she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and turned back to close her script. “I actually had a question for you.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“So, Jenna texted me the details for your Halloween party next Saturday?”

“Oh, yeah!” Jake lit up. “You’re going, right?”

He thought Christine’s smile fell a little bit, but she was smiling again before he could be sure. “Uh, definitely! But I was thinking…” she leaned forward a bit. “What if we went as prince and princess?”

“Hey, that sounds awesome!” Jake called.

Christine grinned. “Really?”

“Totally! Couples costumes are the best. Prince and princess. Got it.”

Christine grinned wider at him, and then other students began to mill around and Mr. Reyes walked in to start rehearsal.

Jeremy had stopped coming one day when some kind of thing popped up, and then he just never came back. He had apologized to Jake, but he hadn’t really minded. He and Christine were already dating now, no “moral support” needed. And he could hardly hold it against Jeremy if he didn’t like theatre. He honestly wasn’t a huge fan of it himself… but he loved how happy it made Christine, and he would go just for that.

Jake stumbled through his lines that he mostly knew for about an hour and a half. Finally, after Brooke (who did not know her lines as well) called “Line!” for the millionth time, Mr. Reyes threw up his hands and said he was going home to eat a hot pocket.

“Man, you are really good at memorizing your lines,” Jake said to Christine.

Christine beamed at him. “Thanks.” she said. “You aren’t doing half bad yourself. So, um, are we still meeting to practice lines tomorrow?”

Jake gave her a confused look. “You just said we’re both doing good, didn’t you?”

Christine frowned. “Well, yes but—”

Jake’s phone buzzed, and he glanced down at it to see a text from Jeremy. “Oh, sorry. Jeremy and Brooke are helping me plan the Halloween party you just mentioned. I’ll talk to you later.”

Christine sighed. “Yeah, okay. Sure.”

“Great.” Jake said, hopping up and jogging out of the theatre to find Jeremy and Brooke waiting.

“Hey, thanks guys.” Jake said. “I know this whole thing isn’t until next Saturday, but you know how I get about parties.”

“Yes Jake, we know.” Jeremy said with a roll of his eyes, as Brooke gave him a fond smile.

The three of them drove back to Jake’s house and they started working out details. Jake, as always, was handling the alcohol, and Jeremy had said he would bring a bunch of chips. They would both show up to decorate that Saturday (what minimal decorating needed to be done anyway). Brooke was figuring out music along with some help from Jenna, who was more than a little tech-savvy and knew how to work speakers.

After a couple hours they had worked out all the details and were sprawled out on his couch watching movies, and giving sarcastic commentary.

“How did you not make popcorn?” Brooke groaned, from where she was taking up an entire couch.

“I’m not your personal chef, Brooke,” Jake said, in as self-righteous a voice as he could manage.

“Dude, personal chef is like… a five course meal.” Jeremy said, pushing himself up from the chair put at an angle next to the couch. “Popcorn is a thing you make when you watch movies.”

“You go make it then.”

“Can’t, never learned how, considering I don’t like popcorn.” Jeremy said, and immediately flinched.

Jake barely noticed though, and moved right into angry interrogation, along with Brooke.

“What do you mean you don’t like popcorn?!” she burst out. “How can you not like popcorn?!”

“Yeah, come on, this is an abomination!” Jake called.

For a second, Jeremy looked like a scared deer caught in the headlights, but before Jake could be sure, his look was replaced with a roll of his eyes and a cocky smirk. “Oh, sue me!” he called.

“You deserve it!” Jake called back, and Jeremy flipped him off.

They all went back to watching the movie after that shocking betrayal, and Jake ordered pizza for them (Jeremy opted instead to grab a bag of chips and eat the entire thing himself) for dinner, after which they all headed home.

But as Jeremy drove off, and Jake was about to shut the door, Brooke climbed back out of the car. “Hey, Jake?”

Jake opened the door again and leaned on the frame. “Yeah?”

Brooke jogged back up the driveway and met him in the doorway. “Did you see Jeremy get scared when he told us he didn’t like popcorn?” she asked.

“Oh thank God, I thought that was just me.” Jake said. “Do you think there’s something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Brooke said. “It’s a weird thing to get upset about… maybe something else is going on.” She looked at Jake. “We gonna…”

“Watch his back? Yeah.” Jake held out his fist. Brooke bumped it. They both smiled at each other, and then Brooke turned and jogged back down the driveway, waving to Jake as she did.

Jake went back in the house, which suddenly felt much more empty, as it always did when his friends left. Luckily for him, Jeremy understood this very well, and would text him as often as he could, as Jake did the same for him. His phone buzzed as he was thinking of this, and he sat on his couch to see a text from Jeremy, who must have already arrived home.

_ Jeremy: _ Hey so how many people are coming to this thing anyway

_ Jeremy: _2 bags of chips should be enough, right?

_ Jake: _ Oh yeah definitely

_ Jake: _ I operate on a strict 1st come 1st serve policy

_ Jeremy: _ Never heard of that particular policy being strict before, but go for it, man

_ Jake: _ Hey, you know we don’t actually care if you don’t like popcorn, right?

There was a pause that was almost too long before Jeremy replied.

_ Jeremy: _ Uh, yeah of course I know that

_ Jeremy: _ Why?

_ Jake: _ No reason

_ Jeremy: _ Dude, it’s just a personal preference

_ Jeremy: _ It would be ridiculous to get upset over that

_ Jake: _ Right, of course

Jeremy sent a thumbs up emoji, and the conversation dissolved into other topics, some but not all being about the upcoming Halloween party. Which made sense, it was the biggest party of the fall. But honestly, at this point Jake wasn’t worried. He had more than enough party planning experience to pull this off. What could go wrong?


	11. Chapter 11

“Um… Rich? You— you gotta get up, man.”

“Hmm?” Rich mumbled, stretching in his bed without opening his eyes at first. When he did, he saw Michael hovering over him, looking concerned. “Oh, hey Michael. What time is it?”

For some reason, this made Michael look more concerned. “It’s almost 7:00, dude.”

Rich blinked a couple times. “Really? Huh.” He pushed himself off the bed, waiting for the Squip to do something to make him feel more awake.

“Rich, come on. What the hell is wrong with you?” Michael asked, but somehow still sounding more concerned than anything else.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rich asked, yawning and stretching again.

“Dude, you get up, like, an hour and a half before now. Did you hear me? It’s almost _ seven.” _

“Yeah, I heard you Mikey.” Rich said, and he yawned again. “I was just up later than usual last night, okay? Brooke and Chloe wanted to get pizza.”

“Staying up a little later doesn’t usually affect your sleep schedule.” Michael said. “What happened to wasting your day?”

Rich yawned again. “Is this really that big of a deal? Come on, every other teenager sleeps until noon, maybe it’s just time that I get with the program.”

Michael leaned back and crossed his arms. “I’m just pointing out the weird-as-fuck fact that _ I _ am waking _ you _ up to get to school on time.”

“Look, Mikey—” Rich sighed, and then yawned one more time. “I honestly don’t have the energy to argue with you this morning. Can I just go get dressed?”

Michael, though he still looked concerned, stepped to the side, and Rich walked over towards his dresser.

His Squip reappeared over his shoulder a second later, as Michael ran upstairs, calling to Rich that he’d make him some food. **Good morning, Rich.**

_ Hey, can you use some kind of hormone thing to wake me up more, please? _

His Squip sighed.

**It is called cortisol, Rich. You should have learned this in biology.**

“Yeah, well… I guess I didn’t.” Rich said aloud.

His Squip shocked him. **In your head, Rich. How many times have we been over this?**

_ I— _

**You did learn about cortisol in biology last year. How much that class have you forgotten?**

_ I— I don’t know! Can you wake me up or not? _

His Squip sighed. **Give me a moment. Go eat breakfast.**

Rich stretched one more and walked towards the steps.

**Get ** ** _dressed_ ** ** first, Rich! Do you have to be told how to do everything?**

Rich flinched at the harsh tone. _ Jesus, sorry. _

By the time he got dressed and made it up to the kitchen he felt more awake. Michael handed him a bowl of cereal which Rich carried over to the table and started eating as Michael jogged back to the basement to grab their bags.

_ Hey, you know, _ Rich realized. _ Why did I wake up so late this morning? _

**I simply calculated you would need more sleep after last night’s late dinner.**

_ I’m usually fine. _

**Getting up at your usual time is also in conflict with your goal to gain the affection of Jake Dillinger.**

Rich paused in eating his cereal and gave his Squip a baffled look. _ How? _

His Squip raised an eyebrow, in a way that still looked odd on Michael’s face. **It is not necessary for you to know.**

_ I’d like to know. _

**Rich, this is one case where I simply know better than you. Understand?**

Rich paused, then nodded slowly.

“Hey, come on!” came a voice. Rich looked at his Squip a second longer before it gestured in exasperation behind him, where the actual Michael was holding his bag.

“Oh, thanks.” Rich said, hopping up, grabbing his bag, and following him to the car.

…

Rich walked into the lunchroom with his Squip explaining how it was absolutely vital he sit with Brooke and Chloe today. Rich agreed, but walked over to Michael first, who was still sitting at their usual table.

“Hey, Mikey.” he said.

Michael glanced up with a grin. “Hey, Rich, you’ll never guess what I heard.”

“Actually,” Rich cut him off, and Michael stopped. “I’m supposed to sit with Brooke and Chloe today. The Squip says it’s super vital or something. You wanna come?”

“Oh, um.” Michael’s smile fell, but popped back up a second later. “I'm good. I think Chloe and Brooke both still kinda hate me, and I’d rather not deal with being glared at all lunch.”

“You sure?” Rich asked.

“Yeah, yeah. See you after school?”

Rich nodded, and walked off towards where Chloe and Brooke were sitting at a table, by themselves for the moment. “Hi,” he said. “Is your invitation to sit still open?”

Brooke smiled at him. “Yeah, of course.” She gestured at the seat next to her and Rich sat down.

Rich smiled at her and sat.

**You should not have asked, Rich. You assume the offer is still open.**

_ Um, that’s pretty rude. _

**Irrelevant.**

A couple seconds later they were joined by Jenna across the table, followed by Jeremy, who sat down and immediately started talking to Rich, and Jake, who stared at Rich for a second and then plopped down next to Jeremy.

Rich winced, but the feeling didn’t last long, because Jeremy (or more likely his Squip) and Chloe were both masters at dispelling awkward tension. In about two minutes everyone at the table was chatting like they’d been best friends their whole lives.

“So, hey, Rich.” Jeremy said. “You’re coming to the Halloween party next Saturday, right?”

Rich did not miss Jake’s baffled look in Jeremy’s direction.

**Repeat after me.**

“Oh yeah, totally. Costumes are required, right?”

Jake nodded, but said nothing. He hadn’t stopped staring at Rich all lunch.

Chloe resumed taking over most of the talking for the lunch period. Near the end, Rich was fairly sure that not much had changed during the timeframe, aside from him getting an invitation to Jake’s Halloween party. Chloe and Brooke still liked him. Jeremy still hated him. Jake still appeared mostly weirded out, though the staring was new.

As the bell rang and everyone moved towards the hallway, Rich side-eyed his Squip so it would look like he was just walking.

_ I thought being more popular was supposed to make Jake like me more. _

**He does like you more. Relatively speaking.**

_ What does that mean? _

The Squip sighed, and Rich was struck by the fact that it looked like it was talking to a child. **It means that if Jeremy were to try to bully you again, Jake would likely begrudgingly stop him now.**

Rich rolled his eyes. _ Great. So much progress. _

The Squip shocked him. **Don’t question me, Rich. I know better than you, remember? I know what I’m doing.**

Rich sighed, and looked around for Michael, who he shared his next class with. He spotted him as they passed his locker and walked over.

“Hey, great news. My Squip says if Jeremy tried to bully me Jake would begrudgingly stop him now.”

“Sweet. I call best man.” Michael said, shutting his locker.

Rich snorted.

Michael threw an arm around his shoulder and they started towards their class, but just after they moved Rich’s Squip gave him a bad enough shock that he yelped and slammed his toe into a wall.

“Ow, fuck!” Rich called, reaching down and grabbing his foot.

“You okay?” Michael asked.

“I’m good.” Rich wheezed out. “Just gimme a sec.”

Michael nodded and a second after Rich’s toe stopped throbbing they started walking again.

Rich tuned out whatever Michael was saying. He knew the Squip could help him jump back in as if he’d been listening, and he needed answers.

_ What the hell was that about? _

**I told you,** the Squip said, it’s voice dangerously low. **That I know better than you, and to let it go.**

Rich nearly shivered. It sounded like Michael when Rich tried to steal his Player One remote, but if he was actually serious.

**And you immediately crossed the hallway and brought it up to Michael.**

_ Jesus, sorry. I thought— _

**Repeat after me.**

**“**Only if the car could fly to school.” Rich said to Michael.

“Hey, or teleport!”

Rich laughed, but it was a little more fake than usual. It was hard to joke with Michael when there was another version of him floating right in front of him looking like he was going to murder him.

_ I was just joking with my best friend. That’s kind of something we do? A lot? _

**Not where I am concerned. Understand?**

_ Fine, just— _

The Squip raised an eyebrow again.

_ —Okay. Okay. _

Rich attempted to refocus on Michael, but he was now talking about the extra bagel calories he got from the toaster, so Rich had clearly missed too much of the conversation; and a second later they arrived at the classroom, so it didn’t matter much anyway.

Rich noticed both Michael and his Squip giving him looks throughout the class period, which was varying levels of worrying, annoying, and confusing. It was getting a little hard to keep the both of them straight. Maybe he could still ask his Squip to change forms.

**This form is best to help you with achieving your goal. Trust me, Rich.**

_ Yeah, alright. _

…

“Hey.” Michael was standing next to Rich’s locker as he walked over there after school.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Rich asked, grinning at him as he opened his locker.

“So I was thinking maybe tonight we just take a break from, you know, everything? AotD, slushies, and some beta reading?”

Rich lit up. “Yeah, that sounds awesome!”

The Squip cleared its throat.

Rich glanced at it. _ What? _

It shook its head.

_ Why not? _

**Do you need to ask?**

Rich sighed. “Sorry, I can’t.” Rich said, gesturing to his head.

Michael bit his lip. “Tomorrow?”

“Yes.” Rich said firmly.

The Squip glared at him, and he almost took it back, but he held firm.

Michael smiled a little and looked more relaxed, so Rich decided whatever punishment he would likely get later was worth it.

It took Rich a couple seconds to realize that he had spaced out on the walk towards Michael’s car. He only realized because Michael was looking at him expectantly, like he was waiting for him to say something.

“Sorry, what?” Rich asked.

Michael scoffed in a way that clearly wasn’t serious.

**Pay attention, moron.**

“Pay attention, dummy.”

Rich flinched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prepare yourselves, the next couple chapters are about Halloween!


	12. Chapter 12

Michael was done simply watching Rich’s back. He was sleeping until 7AM, canceling plans last minute to hang with Brooke and Chloe (of all people!), having weekly hangouts with Jeremy Heere (_ of all people! _ ), and consistently paying more attention to his Squip whenever they _ did _ manage to hang out. That plus the lack of information on the internet (Michael was still asking around) was enough to convince him that they needed to get rid of that thing.

If only he knew _ how. _

Rich and Michael’s pre-established Halloween plans were playing horror games, watching horror movies, reading horror stories, and then trying to come up with stories of their own to top all of them. But this year, Rich was going to a party (which they both knew he hated). So Michael did the one thing that had taken up his time for the past month— research on Squips. Matt was keeping close contact with any information he found out, both of them going through back alleys and real people to try and find anything. Michael was starting to feel a little hopeless. He had even gone to the _ library _ once.

Currently, he all but burned out for the day, and he was less “searching for information on Squips” and more “switching between YouTube and all of his accounts where he asked people about Squips.”

Maybe he could get high and watch some conspiracy theory videos. It was a great way to fuck with his head that didn’t involve evil supercomputers. That was as good a way to spend Halloween by himself as any.

He flipped back to YouTube again and was about to look up moon landing videos again when he looked at Rich’s empty bed.

He sighed aloud. “For once, could his lack of a presence not guilt me into exhausting myself again?”

He went back to his Warcraft account. But, to his surprise, this time there was a new message addressed to him.

WickedTough: Dude, I don’t know whatever goal you’re trying to achieve, but whatever it is, DO NOT bring Squips into it.

Michael’s breath caught, and he typed a response quickly.

Gaymer: Have you heard of them?

WickedTough: YES. My brother took one, and in like a year, he went from a straight ‘D’ student to a freshman at HARVARD. But then when he tried to get the Squip out it drove him crazy and he ended up in a MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Michael’s mouth fell open. He knew Squips sucked, but he didn’t think they were that dangerous.

Gaymer: Jesus, I’m so sorry.

Gaymer: But it’s not me, it’s my best friend. He took one and I’m trying to get it out because he still thinks it’s helping him.

WickedTough: Mountain Dew Red gets rid of them. Not Code Red, the stuff from the 90s.

Michael’s brow furrowed, and he bit his lip.

Gaymer: Wasn’t that discontinued?

WickedTough: Don’t know what to tell you. As far as I know that’s the only way to get rid of them.

Gaymer: Okay, thanks. Gotta go.

WickedTough: Good luck.

Michael dove off the bed with his heart in his throat. He grabbed his phone from his bedside table and turned it on. 10%. Shit, he forgot to charge it. He called Matt anyway, and set the phone on speaker as he pulled his shoes on.

Matt picked up on the second ring. “What’s going on?”

“I got something!” Michael called desperately. He relayed what he’d learned and that he was going to find Rich at Jake’s party and try to reason with him. Matt said he’d get on the case of trying to find some Mountain Dew Red, which would probably be more time effective than driving down there right now, as he wouldn’t make it before the party was over.

Michael grabbed the first shirt he found, which ended up being his ‘Creeps’ hoodie, and jogged up the steps.

“Hey, Nanay.” he said, seeing her through the doorway in the kitchen. “I think I actually am going to go with Rich to that party after all.”

“Okay, have fun.” Nanay said, looking concerned. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m good!” Michael called. “I’ll be safe!”

He grabbed the car keys and ran out the front door to the car, pretty sure that none of that did anything to make Nanay feel less worried.

Michael started the car and pulled out of the driveway before realizing he didn’t really have much of an idea where Jake Dillinger’s house was. He sighed, pulled back into the driveway, and pulled out his phone. A quick look at Jenna Rolan’s posts gave him Jake’s address for the party, which… wasn’t super smart? But sure, okay. It worked for him at least.

Jake’s house was a little less than ten minutes away, and Michael made a quick pit-stop at the closest 7-11, because he would need a slushie to get through this. He did drink the whole thing before he got to the party, but that wasn’t really important.

Michael pulled onto the street to already hearing the sound of thumping music. It was a wonder the cops hadn’t been called. He drove for awhile trying to find a parking spot, and ended up just around the corner and walking back. It was clear what house the party was in, it looked like a beacon. How was he supposed to find Rich in there?

Michael wasn’t totally sure on his plan to walk right in the front door. This was a party that most of the high school was invited to, but the host and most of his closest friends seemed to have a burning hatred for him and would likely be watching for his face, especially if Rich was coming. So Michael snuck around the back.

The back door was, surprisingly, locked, and he was about to test his lock picking skills when someone from inside threw it open and proceeded to vomit onto the porch.

Lovely.

Michael slipped in past them to what might possibly be a nightmare brought to life. There was loud, thumping music and screaming, and about six drunk people stumbled into him within the first six seconds of him being inside the house. At one point he slammed into Jeremy, who was apparently back to looking through him, because he looked right at his face like he wasn’t even there. Michael shoved past him and back to the rest of the party.

Someone stumbled into him again, nearly spilling bear on his shirt, and shoved a cup full of something at him before stumbling away again. Michael dropped it in the first trash can he passed. He did find his way to the punch bowl eventually, which was practically guarded by Chloe Valentine drinking ladles of the stuff. She turned when she noticed Michael.

“Ugh, what—” she hiccuped. “What are you doin’ here?”

“Hi, Chloe.” Michael said. “Can I get you a glass of water or something?”

“Please, y’ll prob’bly abandon it halfway here on a table. Tha’s what you do with people.”

Michael nodded slowly. “Uh-huh. Nice seeing you.” He turned and started looking for Rich again, ignoring Chloe’s “Fuck you!” yelled after him.

“Okay,” Michael muttered aloud, barely able to hear himself. “If I was Squipped Rich, where would I be?”

He thought for a second.

“Probably wherever there’s the most noise. Goddammit.”

The speakers were blaring music and there were a bunch of people dancing in the living room. Michael reluctantly wandered in that direction. He didn’t see Rich anywhere.

“Oh, come on, Rich.” he grumbled.

There was no way he was going to find Rich in this madness. If there was only some kind of way he could be somewhere he knew he’d be. Also, ideally, somewhere Jake, Jeremy, Chloe, Brooke, and Jenna couldn’t find him.

The answer hit him a second later, and he grabbed the nearest stranger. “Hey, do you know where the bathroom is?”

They gave him some slurred out directions that Michael took a couple seconds to work out. Up the stairs, first door on the left. Well, it wasn’t likely that Rich would go to the second floor bathroom over the first floor. Unfortunately, that was now the only bathroom he knew how to find, so Michael slowly made his way toward the stairs. He was shoved back and forth by a couple more drunk people on his way up, and cried out in frustration. At one point he almost slammed his chin on the railing after someone shoved him.

How the hell did Jake enjoy these things? For that matter, how the hell did Jeremy? Unless everything Michael had ever known about him was wrong—

Never mind, he answered his own question.

Finally, Michael made it to the bathroom, practically dove inside, and slammed and locked the door as he took a second to breathe.

“Why the hell,” he panted. “Did someone decide to invent parties?”

He waited just long enough that it was reasonable to think a group of drunk people could forget he was in there, then unlocked the door and walked over and pulled aside the shower curtain.

It was full of beer cans. Michael groaned and moved enough aside that he could climb in, and resolved to sit there and wait for Rich to hopefully show up.

The bathroom was silent and smelled a little too much like beer. Michael was about to feel grateful that at least he was alone, when the door slammed open and shut, and the sounds of two people clearly making out entered the bathroom.

Michael held his breath and prayed, but it seemed God was not on his side tonight, because someone pulled back the curtain, and Michael was met with the two people.

They were about to fall into the bathtub when Michael screamed. The two yanked apart, and the girl screamed, then the boy, and both sprinted from the bathroom, slamming the door after them.

Michael shivered in disgust as the bathroom returned to silence. _ Gross. _

He sat in silence for another 30 seconds or so. Then he pulled out his phone in time to watch it die. He sighed.

“You know, in retrospect,” Michael said aloud, to no one. “It was probably much more reasonable to just wait for Rich to come home.”

He dropped his head into his hands and groaned.


	13. Chapter 13

Rich wasn’t home much on Halloween. The Squip said it was in his best interest to be away from his house for some reason. It was probably right. But Rich also wasn’t close enough to any of the popular kids yet where showing up to help decorate would be “acceptable,” so he spent most of the day in the mall.

At one point Analyn called. Rich was about to answer when the Squip hung up for him.

_ What— hey. _

**You do not need to respond.**

_ She’s probably worried. Let me tell her where I am. _

**I will text her to inform her you are at a party.**

_ I’m not yet, though? _

**Must you point out the obvious, Rich?**

_ Sorry. But I don’t want to lie to her. She’s my mom. _

**You have no biological connection to her, or any of the Mell family. You are genetically incorrect. Analyn Mell is not your parental unit.**

Rich blinked at his Squip, a little surprised to hear that from someone who looked exactly like Michael.

_ I’m not talking about biology. She’s still my family. _

**Rich. This is one of those things I simply understand better. Analyn Mell allows you to live with her. She is not your mother.**

Rich was about to retort when the Squip shocked him. _ What? _

**Look to your left.**

Rich glanced over to see a Barnes and Noble.

**Would you like to go book shopping?**

_ Wait, really? _

**You deserve a treat.**

Rich lit up and walked inside, immediately inhaling the smell of books. He wandered over to the fiction section, automatically looking for classics. “Where’s the Shakespeare…” he muttered to himself.

He spent about five minutes in the bookstore before his Squip told him they had to go somewhere else, so Rich bought a copy of _ Great Expectations _by Charles Dickens and tucked it in his bag.

He went back to the food court for what was at this point dinner, and bought some Sbarros.

**You need to take Michael’s car back to his house. Brooke will be waiting to give you a ride. You have your costume in the back seat?**

_ Yeah. _

**Excellent. Let’s go.**

Rich headed out to the car and grabbed his relatively simple costume from the backseat and moved it to the driver’s seat, before climbing in and starting the route home. Matt had sent Rich his Jason mask to borrow, and he was using a baguette as a machete, which Michael laughed his head off at.

Thinking of Michael again made Rich pause. _ Are you sure I can’t bring Mikey? _

His Squip sighed in exasperation. **Yes, Rich, I am sure. How many times must you bring this up?**

_ It’s just that— _

**Michael would not enjoy coming, and his presence would do great harm to your main goal of winning—**

_ The affection of Jake Dillinger, yeah, I know. _

Shock. **Do not interrupt me. I know better, understand?**

Rich nodded, and focused on driving for the rest of the way home.

When he got there, he grabbed the costume and was about to walk inside when the Squip shocked him again. **They think you’re at a party, remember? Just wait out here. I have informed Brooke you need a ride, she will be here in about five minutes.**

It was a little cold, but the Squip was right about Brooke arriving a couple minutes later, so he wasn’t too cold when she got there.

Chloe was in the front seat, so Rich got in the back. “Thanks for the ride, Brooke.”

“Of course.” Brooke said. “You changing when we get there?”

Rich nodded. He opened his mouth, but was cut off by a shock.

**Do not thank them for inviting you, Rich. You were already invited.**

_ Um, no I wasn’t. Jeremy invited me— _

Another shock. **Do not correct me.** the Squip snapped.

_ I’m sorry. _

**Once you were invited, it forwards your goal much more if you act as if you were simply invited all along. Understand?**

_ Um— _

**Good.**

Brooke and Chloe hadn’t noticed his silence due to Chloe turning on the radio, but now Chloe turned back to him. “So why couldn’t you drive the car in your driveway? Did your moms need it?”

“Oh, they’re not really my moms.” slipped out of Rich’s mouth before he thought about it. He blinked in surprise at what he’d just said before the Squip made him say: “Michael needed it.”

Chloe’s face soured at the mention of Michael. “Oh, okay.” she muttered, turning back around.

Rich looked at her for a second in confusion. He was about to ask once and for all why they hated Michael so much, but Brooke said something first.

“Hey, Rich?

“Yeah?”

“Is Michael… mean to you?”

“What? No, why would he be?” Rich said on instinct. His Squip shocked him and Rich turned to it in bafflement.

_ Why would he be? _

“Just, I don’t know, making sure.” Brooke said, exchanging a glance with Chloe. They pulled to a stop by what must have been Jake’s house. The Squip had said no one would be there for another hour at least.

Brooke turned back to face Rich. “Hey, you know we’re always here for you if you need us?” she asked.

Rich gave them both a confused look. “What do you mean?”

“Just making sure you know.” Brooke said. “Come on, let’s head in.”

Rich nodded, and followed them into the house, though he was still incredibly confused.

Jake directed him to the first floor bathroom, and Rich changed in there, shoving his clothes in a bag, which he was going to run out to Brooke’s mom’s car.

He rested his head on the bathroom door and sighed.

**Rich.** His Squip shocked him.

_ I don’t want to go out there right now! Most of those people hate me! _

**Rich.** His Squip shocked him again.

Rich sighed and walked out. Brooke tossed him the keys as he walked through the living room, and he headed out to the car and put his clothes in the backseat.

He walked back in to everyone else in the middle of a conversation.

Lucky (was it?) for him, Jeremy was basically forced to help him.

“Hey, Rich.” he called. “Have you ever been to a haunted house?”

**Answer honestly.**

“No. Are they fun?”

“Wait, you’ve really never been to one?” Jake asked in surprise.

Rich shook his head.

For the first time, Jake looked actually curious. “Do you want to?”

_ Uh… _

**Yes.**

“Yeah, sure, I’d be open to it. Why, you know a good one?”

Jake nodded. “My parents took me to a great one nearby when I was younger. It’s open until a couple days after Halloween, do you guys wanna go tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that sounds fun!” Brooke called.

Rich raised an eyebrow. “I would not take you as the haunted house type, Brooke.”

Brooke waved him off. “They’re safe, and it’s all in good fun. What’s not to like?”

They quickly worked out details, like who was picking up who and when. Fortunately, it started late enough at night that the Squip said Chloe would have enough time to get over the hangover tomorrow would likely bring.

By the time Rich felt like conversation was going well, people started to arrive, and the group broke up to various rooms.

Rich wandered between rooms at his Squip’s direction. He wasn’t sure why they were moving when they did, and at one point it even had him leave in the middle of a conversation, but the Squip seemed to have a method to its madness.

After what felt like a couple days but was likely only a couple hours, Rich found himself leaning against a wall in a room a little ways away from the main party.

_ Can I go find an empty bedroom to take a break for a minute? _

**No.**

Rich sighed and forced an ‘I’m enjoying this!’ look onto his face.

His Squip sighed. **Must you whine about it? Wait a couple minutes.**

_ What are you waiting for? _

**You don’t need to know.**

Rich sighed again. _ Look, if I promise I’ll wait a couple minutes, will you leave me alone for a while? _

The Squip gave him a look, and it was clear he was calculating something. **Very well,** it said finally, **go to the first room on the right upstairs.** It disappeared from over Rich’s shoulder.

Rich sighed in relief, and leaned back against the wall again like he promised. After about five minutes of watching people go back and forth across the room, Rich walked towards the steps. They were a sea of drunk and stumbling people that somehow seemed to part for him, like he deserved respect. Or maybe it was just lucky timing.

He finally got to the top of the stairs and opened the door of the first room on the right. It was a blissfully empty bedroom. Rich sighed in relief and walked over to the bed, collapsing on top of it. Oh, the sweet silence of a temporarily Squip-less head in an empty room.

The second part didn’t last long, however, as the door slammed open, and Rich jumped, sitting up. To his surprise, an obviously drunk Chloe stumbled and nearly fell into the room, almost looking like she was shoved. She slammed the door shut behind her.

“Hey, you okay?” Rich asked.

Chloe glanced over at him, and jumped a couple seconds later. “You—” she tried to walk towards the bed, and stumbled a little. Rich hopped up and helped her over, then sat next to her on the bed. Chloe shook her head a little as if to clear it.

“You okay?” Rich asked again.

“Some creep was comin’ on to me,” Chloe slurred. “He got the message when I told him I’m not property, though.”

“Uh, that’s… good?” Rich said hesitantly. “Chloe, do you want me to get you a glass of water or something?”

Chloe hiccuped and glanced over at him. “Y’know, the asshole asked me that too.”

Rich raised an eyebrow. “What asshole?”

“Y’know, your… ‘best friend.’” She waved her hands as if she was mocking the very idea.

Rich blinked in surprise. “Mikey’s here?”

“You know he’s not that innocent!” Chloe snapped, suddenly sounding pissed. “The whole ‘best friends forever’ routine? It’s all an act!”

Rich stared at her in confusion. “What?”

Chloe sighed, suddenly seeming really sad. “But you’re a nice person, Rich.” She started rubbing his arm as if she was petting it. Rich gently pulled it away and Chloe continued rubbing the air for a couple seconds until she realized he’d done so. “You’re a nice person and I don’ want you t’be sad.”

Rich continued staring at her. “I don’t understand what’s happening right now.” he said.

“I know you think he’s a good person but he’s not,” Chloe continued.

“Chloe,” Rich said, turning to face Chloe completely. “Michael’s not an asshole.”

Chloe’s head bobbed up and down. “‘Cept he is, though,” she said.

“No, he’s not.” Rich said.

Chloe whined like he was annoying her. “Yeah, it’s ‘cause you don’ think so,” she said.

Rich was about to retort again when the door opened and a noticeably-less-drunk Brooke walked in. “Chloe, there you are,” she said. “Okay come on, I’m gonna take you home.”

Rich helped Chloe up and Brooke came over and helped him. “Do you wanna me to drop you off too, Rich?” Brooke asked.

Rich hesitated. “Do you mind coming back?” he aksed. “I need to… find someone.”

Brooke smiled at him. “No problem. I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes. Meet me on the couch in the living room downstairs?”

Rich nodded, and Brooke and Chloe headed out.

Okay, so Michael was here. Michael hated parties, why would he be here? _ Where _ would he be? Probably in a room with no one else. He should probably check up here for another empty bedroom.

Rich walked out and started for the room next to the one he was in. Another bedroom, but no Michael. There was another empty bedroom after that and one one the opposite side (did Jake have any siblings? How many bedrooms did his family need?), and a closet on the other side of the hallway next to the bedroom. Rich doubted there were many empty rooms on the first floor, and he was kind of surprised he hadn’t found any couples making out in the empty bedrooms. Maybe they were all in bathrooms instead. He couldn’t possibly understand how that would be more comfortable.

Speaking of bathrooms, that’s what the last room on the second floor was, but Rich didn’t see anyone there, either. At least, not until the shower curtain was yanked aside to reveal a thoroughly annoyed Michael with his eyes shut. “Jesus Christ, there have to be other places to kiss!” he snapped. “If I see one more couple I’m gonna—”

“Mikey?”

Michael’s eyes snapped open. “Rich? Oh thank God, I thought you were more people making out.”

“Uh…” Rich blinked at Michael for a second. “How many people have come in here making out?”

“You have no idea. I am scarred for life.”

Rich laughed, walking closer. “It’s great to see you here. I didn’t think you were coming.”

“Never by choice.” Michael said, smiling a little back before his face turned more serious. He climbed out of the bathtub. “I need to tell you something I found out.”

Rich bit his lip, thinking back to Chloe. “Yeah, me too.” he said. “Chloe and Brooke and everyone— the reason they hate you. It doesn’t have anything to do with status. For some reason they seem to think you’re some kind of asshole.”

Michael blinked in surprise. “What? Why?”

Rich shrugged. “Something to do with Jeremy, maybe?”

“I mean, yeah.” Michael muttered. “But that’s ridiculous. He’s the one who left _ me _ in the dust.”

Rich nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know.” He leaned back on the wall across from the sink. “What did you want to tell me?”

Michael bit his lip. He joined Rich at his spot on the wall. “Rich, you need—” He bit his lip again.

“Yes?” Rich asked, trying to nudge him towards actually finishing his sentence.

Michael sighed, and he turned to Rich with a determined expression. “You need to get rid of the Squip.”

Rich leaned back in shock. “What? No.”

“Rich, I know you trust them, but I don’t think you should.”

Rich shook his head. “You don’t understand, Michael. I can’t quit now, not when I’m finally making progress. Besides, it’s helping me.”

“No, Rich. It’s not. I’ve been staying up researching them, and—”

“You’ve been what?” Rich asked, turning his body to face Michael. “Mikey! Is that why you’re so tired all the time? You’ve been staying up late doing research? I thought you said you trust me!”

Michael held up his hands. “Rich, I do trust you—”

“Clearly not enough to let me deal with this on my own. Mikey, I—” Rich sighed. “I told you I’m not going to abandon you.”

_ “I believe you.” _ Michael said. “Rich. I believe you. But this isn’t about that.”

“Yes it is!” Rich snapped, not sure where all this sudden anger was coming from. “It’s about you being butthurt from everything with Jeremy and not trusting me when I promised you I’m sticking with you!”

Michael blinked in surprise at him. It took about three seconds for the surprise to turn into anger. Michael crossed his arms. “What the hell, Rich?”

Rich paused, realizing what he’d said.

“What I was _ trying _ to tell you,” Michael said, now sounding thoroughly ticked off. “Is what I found. You know I couldn’t find anything on the internet about Squips? Nothing. Which is really fucking weird, don’t you think? What isn’t on the internet? So I started asking around. And finally, this guy I play Warcraft with told me his brother went from a straight ‘D’ student to a freshman at Harvard.” Michael raised an eyebrow. “You know where he is now?”

Rich swallowed. “Judging by your face, the answer isn’t ‘really happy and successful?” he asked quietly.

Michael laughed. “Smart.” he mocked. Rich flinched.

“He’s in a mental hospital.” Michael continued. “Totally lost it.”

Rich opened his mouth to say something, but Michael cut him off. “I mean, come on, think, man! We’re talking an insanely powerful supercomputer! You think it’s primary function is to help you get with Jake Dillinger?” Michael spread his arms. “Who made them? How did they end up in a high school? In _ New Jersey? _ Of all possible applications for such a mind-blowingly advanced technology, you ever wonder what it’s doing inside you?”

“I—”

“I mean for fucks sake, Rich! We both know what Jeremy is like! And you got one of those things anyway? You’re one of the smartest people I know, Rich, how are you being so stupid?!”

Rich blinked and nearly stumbled backwards. He felt like the Squip had shocked him. But that was something it only did when it was mad.

So Michael was mad at him then. Well… whatever. Not like he was the only one. Jeremy. And Jake, the reason he took this thing in the first goddamn place. And hey, the reason those two were mad at him seemed to have something to do with Michael himself. So maybe Michael being mad at Rich would even do him a favor.

“Leave me alone,” Rich growled.

Michael sighed. “Okay, fine. Maybe that was a little harsh, but Rich—”

“No, but nothing! I don’t care! I don’t care if your friends brother or whatever went crazy because of his Squip, I don’t care if they’re dangerous or _ whatever!_ They can keep me away from _ you, _ and for right now I think that’s exactly what I want!” Rich turned and stormed out of the bathroom, slamming the door behind before exactly what he’d just said sunk in.


	14. Chapter 14

“Well, that can’t be good.” Brooke muttered to herself.

She had dropped Chloe off at home and managed to get her up to her bedroom without her parents seeing, and then headed back to the party to find Rich sitting on the couch where they said they’d meet with his head in his hands.

“Rich?” she asked cautiously, approaching slowly.

Rich pulled his head up from his hands. He wasn’t crying, but he looked pretty close. “God, sorry.” he said anyway, wiping at his face. “I probably shouldn’t be doing this right here, it’s just… this is where we said we’d meet.”

“What happened?” Brooke asked, sitting down next to him.

“I think I just fucked up really bad.” Rich said, burying his head in his hands again.

“Oh, hey.” Brooke said, holding her hand out. “It’s alright. Maybe we can fix it. Tell me what happened.”

Rich glanced over at her. “I just yelled at Michael.” he said quietly.

Okay. Brooke would readily admit it. She wanted to jump for joy. She had been really unsure about Michael and Rich’s friendship for pretty much as long as she’d known it existed. She couldn’t say she would be sad to see Michael gone from Rich’s life, especially if it would make him happier and make their group as a whole more comfortable having him as a friend.

But.

But Michael was also a really important person to Rich. It was obvious, from how he talked about him, to how he still sat with him during lunch, to how often Brooke saw him with him. He also lived with him. He really cared about him, so she really needed to tread lightly here.

“Okay,” she said slowly, sitting down, after being quiet for probably too long. “Do you want to tell me what you said? You don’t have to.”

Rich swallowed, then sighed. “He was trying to tell me about…” he trailed off suddenly.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.” Brooke said softly.

“There’s this person,” Rich said. “That he doesn’t think is a good influence, and he’s trying to convince me of the same.”

That sounded familiar in a way Brooke couldn’t place. She set it aside for the moment. “Well,” she said. “I’m going to be honest with you, Rich. I’m not sure he’s such a good influence.”

Rich give her a look. “Why do you hate him so much?”

Brooke hesitated, not wanting to reveal anything Jeremy wouldn’t want her to say. “He really hurt someone very important to me,” she said. “And I don’t want him to hurt you too.”

“Jeremy.” Rich said plainly.

Brooke blinked, and then she chuckled. “I forgot how smart you are,” she said.

Rich blinked at her. “I’m not… that smart,” he muttered, looking down.

“Oh come on, yes you are,” Brooke said, nudging him playfully.

Rich shrugged her arm away and shook his head. “I don’t understand how you love Jeremy so much.” Rich said, leaning back on the couch. “He’s an asshole.”

Brooke raised an eyebrow. “Did Michael tell you that?”

Rich hesitated. “Maybe.” he admitted. “But I’m also going from my own experiences with him. He was never exactly the nicest person to me.”

“Alright, I’ll give you that.” Brooke said. “Jeremy’s not perfect. But once you get to know him, he’s a really wonderful person, I promise.”

Rich gave her a disbelieving look.

“Really. He’s very kind—”

“Yeah, I really picked up on that from all those times he shoved me into lockers.”

“He’s always been really accepting.”

“Like all those times he called me gay or the time he wrote ‘Boyf Riends’ on Michael and I’s backpacks?”

“He really knows how to make me laugh.”

“Like when he calls me some kind of insult and then laughs at his own joke.”

Brooke sighed. “I see your points, I just… you haven’t been friends with him. He’s like a totally different person once you get to know him, I swear. Hasn’t he been nicer to you lately?”

Rich scrunched up his nose. “Not really.”

Brooke looked at him in confusion. “From what I’ve seen he has.”

“You haven’t seen him when we’re alone.” Rich said. “I’m sorry, Brooke, it just… it doesn’t even seem like we’re talking about the same person. It’s not like I don’t understand a little, but—”

“What part do you understand?” Brooke asked. “Maybe I can explain it to you?”

Rich stopped. “Uh— no, nevermind. I shouldn’t.” He paused. “Brooke?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you really think Michael would try to hurt me?”

Brooke nodded slowly. “Yeah I do.”

“I don’t. I think I just hurt him.”

“I know. I don’t think I’m going to change your mind on that tonight.”

“I don’t think I am either.”

Both of them looked at each other for a moment.

“No matter what you say, I think I just really fucked up.” Rich whispered.

“Are you sorry?” Brooke asked.

Rich paused. She saw a couple emotions fly across his face before he answered. “Not… entirely. About some things.”

“Then it’s okay.” Brooke said.

“That’s a really terrible philosophy.”

Brooke laughed a little.

“Hey, Brooke? Can I ask you something? I mean, we’re not really super close friends, so if this weird and annoying don’t worry about it, okay?”

Brooke tipped her head in confusion. “Okay, what is it?”

“Can I stay at your house for a while?”

Brooke smiled at him. “Yeah. We’ve got a spare room, and I’m pretty sure my parents won’t mind.”

“Are you sure?”

Brooke nodded. “Even if I can’t make it happen long-term, you absolutely can tonight. I totally understand why you don’t want to go home. Let me go to the bathroom, and then I’ll drive us both over.”

“Thank you.” Rich said.

“Of course.” Brooke replied, and she walked over to one of the first floor bathrooms.

She found her way back over to Rich about five minutes later, and found him looking more concerned, gazing off towards another room.

“You good?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Rich said. He glanced back at Brooke. “Do you want to stay a couple minutes more? Jake just went to look for Jeremy, he was like, freaking out?”

“Really?” Brooke asked, following Rich’s gaze. She considered it for a second, but ultimately turned back to Rich. “Nah, if Jake’s got him it’s probably okay. Let’s head home, it has been way too long a night.”

Rich smiled a little at her. “Yeah, it has.”

They both stood up and stumbled through the slowing down party. Brooke’s car was parked in the driveway, as she had left an empty spot when she took Chloe home, and people had stopped coming and taking spots by that point.

Brooke climbed in the car and waited for Rich to walk around before asking “Do you want to run home and get clothes or do you want to avoid Michael entirely?”

Rich paused, seemingly in thought. “He’s not home yet.” he said eventually.

“How do you know?” Brooke asked.

“Just trust me. But we need to hurry.”

So Brooke followed Rich’s directions and booked it to Michael’s house. When they got there, Rich told her he would be faster on his own, so he ran inside and grabbed a bunch of clothes as Brooke sat in the car, drummed her fingers on the wheel, and keeping an eye out for what Rich said Michael’s car looked like.

About ten minutes later Rich came back out of the house carrying a backpack that must have been full of clothes, and a second one, maybe full of schoolwork.

“You sure you’ve got everything?” Brooke asked as Rich climbed into the car.

Rich was quiet, obviously going through a list in his head. “My toothbrush.” he realized.

“We have new ones in our closet.” Brooke said easily.

“Thank you.” Rich said, and Brooke pulled backwards out of the driveway.

They got to her house around ten minutes later, and Brooke helped Rich put his stuff in the guest room.

Rich thanked her again, and she waved off his concerns. Then she went to her own room and changed into pajamas, before going and waking up her parents and telling them a friend was staying the night, and maybe longer if she could get their ‘ok’ tomorrow. They nodded and both went back to sleep.

Brooke went and brushed her teeth and walked back into her room. She plugged her phone in and set it on her nightstand in case Chloe called in the middle of the night, switched off her light and climbed under the covers.

Only then did she let herself ponder whether this was really the right call. Obviously she didn’t mind that Rich wanted to stay with her, and she wasn’t about to complain about getting him away from Michael. Maybe if Rich was away from Michael for long enough he would start to see that being friends with him wasn’t a good thing. That was the main reason she was doing this, after all.

But something in the back of her head was bugging her. Something Brooke couldn’t seem to place that made her question whether she was making the right decision.

Michael wasn’t a good person. Her whole friend group knew that.

So why was she so uneasy?


	15. Chapter 15

Jake wanted to do one of three things. Slam his head into a wall, go to sleep, or sit down and let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

Christine had just broken up with him.

Jake was still struggling to understand her reasoning. She said something about wanting him to invite her to this party personally, which made no sense and wasn’t connected to anything. Plus, she was his girlfriend. That meant she was automatically invited, right?

Christine had then gone on to explain what she really meant was it felt like he didn’t get her. They didn’t have a lot in common, he didn’t seem to understand what she wanted in particular situations and vice versa, and she felt like he didn’t think of her when he was doing things.

“We’re just… not clicking,” she had said, and she’d gestured to their costumes. “We don’t fit.”

Jake was wearing a Prince costume. Christine was dressed as an authentic renaissance era princess. Jake had already apologized for the misunderstanding, he didn’t understand what the problem was.

Without looking much at where he was going, Jake walked into a quieter room and plopped down on a couch.

“You okay?” came a hesitant voice.

Jake glanced over in surprise to see the resident annoyance, Richard Goranski. “Not really.” he admitted.

“What happened?” Rich asked.

Jake gave him a look. “No offense, but I really don’t want to talk about my feelings with you.” Especially not feelings about a romantic partner. Especially not to _ him. _

Rich sighed. “Yeah, okay.” he muttered, leaning back on the couch.

He looked a little upset, and Jake suddenly thought about what Jenna had said about not actively trying to break his heart, and about what Brooke had said earlier.

Jake leaned back and gave that long, drawn-out sigh that he’d been wanting to. “I think I just got dumped.”

Rich gave him a look of genuine surprise. _ “You?” _

Jake nodded.

Rich stared at him. “Who would be that crazy?”

_ Excellent comment, Rich. I’m now thinking about your crush again. _

“Well, the person I was dating, for one.” Jake said. “You can really only be dumped by a limited number of people.”

“That’s… a fair point.” Rich admitted. “Still, Christine is nuts. Her loss.”

“She essentially said I was a bad boyfriend.”

“What? Now that _ is _ crazy.”

“She said something about not inviting her to this party personally. I mean, obviously that wasn't her only reason. I guess I just kind of assumed she was already going to come. If I’d known she wanted a personal invitation I would have given it to her. Hell, if she had said she didn’t particularly want to have a Halloween party, I would have called the whole thing off!”

Rich snorted. “Oh yeah, you’re an awful boyfriend.”

Jake turned and looked at Rich for a moment. Rich turned a second later and looked back at him, and seemed to be gathering up the courage to ask him something, pointed out by him opening his mouth and shutting it multiple times.

“Yes?” Jake eventually prompted.

“Do you hate me because you think Michael hurt Jeremy?” Rich asked.

The question came so completely out of nowhere that Jake had to take a minute to process it. When Rich put it like that it sounded ridiculous, and yet… he was kind of right.

But then again, now that Jake really thought about it, did he actually hate Rich? Maybe he had once, but if that was true, he didn’t think he it was anymore. He honestly felt a little bad for him sometimes. Jeremy had put him through a _ lot, _ and it couldn’t all be his fault.

“I… I don’t hate you, Rich.” Jake admitted.

Rich turned to him in shock. “Really?”

Jake bit his lip, and sighed. “No. But I can see why you would think that, and I’m sorry.”

Rich blinked a couple times. “Really?” he asked again.

Jake nodded. “But…”

Rich’s face fell, and in that moment Jake hated that he had to disappoint him. “I still don’t think I could be friends with you.”

“Why not?” Rich asked. “I thought you said you didn’t hate me.”

“I don’t. I actually feel like I could really like you, and that’s… why I can’t.”

Rich gave him a confused look. “What do you mean?”

Jake groaned and lightly banged his head into the wall behind the couch. (Hey, now he just had to go to sleep and his list of things would be complete.) “I know this is going to sound so shitty, so you don’t need to tell me. But I can’t do that to Jeremy. I know you might think Michael is a good friend, but he really hurt Jeremy, and becoming friends with Michael’s new best friend? That would be _ the worst thing _ I could do to him, and God, that does sound really shitty. But I just can’t do it.”

_ I also don’t totally hate the idea of dating you since Jenna brought up your apparent crush on me. And I cannot add a sexuality crisis on top of everything. _

“I don’t understand how Jeremy could tell everyone _ Michael _ is the one who hurt _ him_.” Rich said, and Jake glanced back over at him. Rich sniffed, and wiped at his nose, and Jake wondered if maybe he was about to cry, and if it was more for Michael’s sake or his own.

“Rich. You didn’t see him. You didn’t see him when he found out. He could not possibly have been faking.”

“Really? Because from what I’ve seen from everyone’s conflicting views about him, he has to be a pretty damn good actor.”

Jake shook his head. “No one could fake that.”

Rich shook his head too, though more in disbelief. “I think this story is messed up somewhere.”

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, one of them would have to be the one messing it up. And I can promise you Jeremy is not that one.”

“Neither is Michael.” Rich insisted. A second later, he hesitated, and it was like Jake could see the gears turning in his head. “What if…” he muttered. Then he shook himself. “No, not a chance.” He sighed. “Whether this story is messed up or not, I think it’s been too long to be able to fix it now.”

“I think you’re right.” Jake said softly.

Both of them sat in silence for another second.

“HEY!” came a familiar voice, and both Rich and Jake whirled towards it. “SERIOUSLY, WHERE THE FUCK CAN I GET SOME MOUNTAIN DEW RED?!”

“Is that Jeremy?” Rich asked.

“Yes.” Jake said, standing. “I am going to go see what the fuck is wrong.”

“You do that.” Rich said, still staring after Jeremy as he turned and ran off.

Jake took off after him, but people were cutting in front of him to try and see Jeremy, and within five seconds Jake had already lost him.

Jesus. Why did he invite so many people to these parties again?

Jake headed off in the direction he thought Jeremy had gone in and looked around. “Hey,” he said, grabbing the nearest person. “Did Jeremy come through here?”

The person gave him a confused, obviously drunken look and turned away again.

Jake walked a couple of steps away and grabbed another person. “Did Jeremy come through here?” he repeated.

“I think he went to the kitchen or something?” the person said, but it sounded too unsure for Jake’s liking.

Jake groaned and grabbed another random person and yanked them towards him, who turned out to be Dustin Kropp. “Have you seen Jeremy?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Dustin said. “He was seriously freaked out about something. He ran into the kitchen yelling about Mountain Dew Red.”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, he screamed that earlier. Do you know why he wants that, or what that is?”

“Some kind of Mountain Dew, I guess? Maybe he meant Code Red.”

Jake shrugged. “I can’t think of a reason for him wanting either of those things. Maybe he was just drunk.”

Dustin shook his head. “I was near the bar most of the night. He didn’t touch any while I was there.”

Jake shook his head a little in confusion. “Okay, thanks. I guess I’ll head for the kitchen.”

Dustin nodded, and then paused, sniffing as if smelling something. “Do you smell that?”

Jake paused too, and a second later he got what the guy was talking about. “Is that smoke?”


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for fire and suicidal thoughts.

**Jeremy, we are going to be late to help if you do not start getting ready.**

_ You know, that’s a great point. Counterpoint, what if we don’t go at all? _

His Squip gave him a dangerous look. Normally Jeremy would back off, but he’d had a really rotten day. _ Come on, please? I don’t want to go! Just this once? _

**Jeremy.**

_ Please. _

His Squip shook its head in a way that told Jeremy if he asked again he’d regret it.

Jeremy gave in, and pulled on his costume. A cyborg. It was pretty fitting, if Jeremy was being honest with himself.

He usually wasn’t.

Jeremy took his dad’s car and drove over to Jake’s house, remembering to grab the chips before he went. He was the first one to get there, as usual. Chloe and Brooke normally ate lunch first.

“Hey,” Jake said, from his spot on the couch with a bags of McDonalds. Jeremy put his many bags of chips in the kitchen before heading back into the living room.

Jake grabbed a fry and held it out to Jeremy. “French fry?”

Jeremy grabbed the container and shoved about six fries in his mouth at once.

Jake gasped in mock horror. “The offer was a _ singular fry!” _ he exclaimed.

Jeremy shoved six more in his mouth in protest.

Jake gasped again.

Jeremy laughed, feeling a little better as he sat down next to his best friend. “Do not offer me food, I inhale everything I touch.”

“Such is a lesson I have now learned,” Jake said, snatching away what was left of his fries.

Jeremy gave Jake a shit eating grin, and leaned back against the couch with a contented sigh. “Maybe I’m just pissed that you didn’t buy me food, considering I haven’t eaten lunch.”

“Oh yes, you sound very pissed.” Jake said with a roll of his eyes.

Jeremy grinned at him again. They fell into an easy silence, one of the ones that almost allowed Jermey to pretend the Squip wasn’t there. Despite the sarcastic commentary, after couple seconds Jake slid Jeremy one of his two boxes of ten nuggets, and since Jeremy was actually hungry, he opened and ate them.

These were the moments where Jeremy honestly felt like life wasn’t so bad. That if he had Jake, and Brooke, and moments like this, he might just make it.

**Your life is not bad, Jeremy. Are you ungrateful for all I’ve done?**

_ Of course not. _ Jeremy thought quickly. Before the Squip could reply, Jeremy felt a stab of anxiety, which the Squip quickly quieted. That had been happening a lot lately, but Jeremy was fairly sure random bursts of anxiety were totally normal.

Both him and Jake finished the McDonalds in silence, and Chloe, Brooke, and Jenna arrived a few minutes later.

They had all helped set up enough parties for Jake before that Jermey was able to do it on autopilot and let his Squip help with most of it. For some reason, however, that wasn’t helping with how anxious he felt.

This party was also different for a reason that became more apparent later in the evening when Brooke and Chloe left to go get Rich Goranski. After they left Jenna turned to him. “Hey, why did you invite Rich anyway?” she asked. “I thought you hated him.

_ Shit. How am I supposed to lie convincingly to Jenna? _

**I’ll do it.**

“I mean, a little,” his Squip made him say. “But Chloe and Brooke really like him, so I kinda figured he can’t be all bad?”

Jenna didn’t look terribly convinced, but she let it go.

About ten minutes later Rich arrived, and Jake directed him to one of the first floor bathrooms to change into his costume.

“Okay, so can we ask you guys to not be super rude to Rich tonight?” Brooke asked.

“Why would we agree to that?” Jake asked, crossing his arms. “He’s the worst.”

_ God, Jake is the best. _

**Shut up.**

_ Sorry. _

“He’s not the worst.” Chloe spat. “And also…” she and Brooke exchanged a glance. “We’re not exactly sure his friendship with—” she glanced at Jeremy. “With Michael is, uh, as healthy as it seems?”

_ Oh. Shit. Really? _

**No. It is about as likely as the chances of Sus scrofa domesticus taking flight.**

_ Uh, what’s a Sus scrofa domesticus? _

**A pig.**

_ So… you’re literally saying Michael and Rich’s friendship will be unhealthy ‘when pigs fly.’ _

**Correct.**

_ Should I tell them that? _

**Absolutely not.**

_ What? But— _

Shock. **Pay attention, Jeremy.**

_ Sorry. _

As the other people in the room now did not share Jeremy’s knowledge, they were sharing uneasy glances.

“How sure are you?” Jenna asked.

“Sure based on the fact that it’s Michael?” Brooke muttered it under her breath, but Jeremy still heard it. He bit his lip.

“That’s… fair.” Jenna admitted, as most of them looked away from Jeremy. “I’ll watch out for him.”

“No promises.” Jake muttered, though he looked more unsure.

Rich walked out of the bathroom, and Brooke tossed him her keys. He walked outside to put his clothes in the car.

Jake purposely changed the conversation topic when he left, enough that when Rich walked back in it looked like they were in the middle of a conversation. It probably wasn’t such a great thing to be glad that Jake was being mean to someone, but damn if Jeremy didn’t appreciate it.

Unfortunately, Rich had forced Jeremy’s Squip to help him now, so his Squip did it’s best to initiate Rich into whatever conversation they were having, and Jake followed. Jeremy honestly wasn’t really paying close attention, mostly because he was letting his Squip take over so he could have a conversation with it.

_ They don’t trust Michael because of me. _

**Correct. They are good friends, Jeremy. I am glad I connected the five of you.**

_ But… if Michael doesn’t treat Rich badly, why don’t we tell them that? _

**Jeremy.** his Squip snappeed. **I told you to let it go.**

_ Why is his friendship better than mine was with Michael? _

**Jeremy.**

_ Why is Rich enough when I wasn’t? _

**We have been over this, Jeremy. It is because you are a worthless loser.**

_ I’m not a loser. I’m one of the most popular people in school. _

People had started to arrive, and as the conversation ended and the group dispersed, the Squip took Jeremy to an empty bedroom.

**Only with my help. We have agreed that you are not worth anything without me.**

_ Well, yeah. _

**So why are you questioning me?**

It sounded threatening, but for the first time in a long time, Jeremy didn’t stop. _ Michael knew me for ten years. You’re telling me he secretly hated me that whole time? _

The Squip rolled his eyes. **Of course not. He simply became aware of your obvious faults when he had a new friend to compare you to.**

_ Michael doesn’t seem like the kind of person to abandon someone because he found someone better. Would he abandon Rich? Because you just pointed out how their friendship isn’t unhealthy. _

**Jeremy, you’re being ridiculous.**

_ Does Michael hate me? _

**Of course he does.**

_ Are you lying to me? _

The Squip looked as shocked as Jeremy felt. He hadn’t talked back to his Squip since— well, he couldn’t remember.

The next second his Squip glitched and seemed to almost grow taller. Jeremy shrunk down, and was reminded of the way his mother looked when Jeremy was afraid she was going to hit him. **Jeremy, this is unacceptable behavior.**

Jeremy nearly whimpered. He started to whisper. “I’m—”

** _Do not speak._ **

Jeremy stopped so fast he nearly bit his tongue.

**If you step out of line again, ** his Squip’s gaze somehow got more threatening. **You will regret it. ** ** _Understand?_ **

Jeremy nodded. He was nearly falling over.

**Good. You have five minutes to pull yourself together.**

“Thank you.” Jeremy said. His voice sounded like it was a million miles away.

The Squip vanished.

Jeremy fell backwards onto the bed behind him and dragged his hands up to his face as he started to sob. He managed to keep his hands there so no one outside heard and came to check on him. He started to take deep, staggering breaths as he got close to what felt like minute three, and by minute four his tears had silenced. Finally, at four and a half minutes, Jeremy was wiping his face and planning the route to the closest bathroom.

But when the Squip flickered back on at five minutes it said the closest bathroom wasn’t an option for some reason, so it took him down to one of the bathrooms on the first floor. Amazingly, he made it inside with no one asking him what was wrong, and after shutting and locking the door he let out another half-sob. His Squip shocked him, and Jeremy wiped at his face with a towel from under the sink and splashed some water on his face.

**If anyone asks you about your eyes, say you’re high.**

Jeremy nodded.

**Now go enjoy the party.**

Jeremy could not begin to imagine where he found the smile that he put on his face just then, but it ended up there, and he stumbled out the door like he was already a little intoxicated from something or other. He made his way over to the bar on the off chance the Squip would let him drink tonight.

**Go over your behavior and think again.**

Jeremy nodded on instinct.

Dustin Kropp walked up to Jeremy every once and a while and gave him a look until Jeremy half-glared at him and he held up his hands and walked away.

Jeremy took another breath that shook a little on the way out. His whole body tensed as he waited for the shock, but when none came, he just stayed tense— which was maybe the point.

The night seemed to pass at the speed of a snail, and how tense, anxious, and miserable he was definitely wasn’t helping. He caught sight of Brooke two times, and tried one of the two times to ask her if he could vent to her. But the Squip looked at him, so that put an end to that mission.

It had been probably a couple hours, but felt much longer, when Chloe came up to the bar again. Jeremy had been watching her come and get drinks, return to get more drinks, and get steadily drunker throughout the night. Chloe grabbed several separate drinks and put them in her flask, then dunked her flask in the punch bowl for a grand finale.

She then stumbled over to a nearby wall and took another drink from her flask.

A couple minutes later, a guy walked up to Chloe in a way that immediately set Jeremy’s alarm bells.

**Jeremy—**

“Hey, buddy.” Jeremy said, stepping closer to the guy. “How’s it going?”

“Back off, man.” the guy said. “Go find your own.”

Jeremy’s gaze hardened. “She doesn’t belong to either of us, actually.” he said.

Chloe was apparently sober enough to be coherent, because she jumped in. “I’m not property,” she said with agreement, in a way that made the guy laugh as if she was adorable and Jeremy’s blood boil.

“Get out.” Jeremy said, nodding his head towards the door. “And don’t come back.”

“‘Scuse me, but who the hell are you to—”

“The best friend of the guy who owns this house.” Jeremy spat. “And if you don’t get out now we’re gonna have some problems.”

The guy seemed smart enough to realize he was in trouble, and followed Jeremy as he escorted him to the door and made sure he left. Jeremy made sure Chloe was following him and not wandering off somewhere else. The guy shut the front door, and Chloe smirked after him before turning back to Jeremy. “Victory drinks!” she called. She took a swig from her flask, and before Jeremy could say anything, she shoved the flask in his mouth.

Jeremy coughed a little as the alcohol went down, and wiped off his mouth.

Then the Squip over his shoulder disappeared.

Jeremy stared.

“Uh, sorry.” Chloe slurred, reaching for Jeremy. “Did that hurt?”

Jeremy blinked again. “Can I have another drink of that?” he asked suddenly, grabbing the flask from Chloe and downing what little was left of it.

Chloe gave a little cheer. “Victory drinks!” she called.

“Yeah, okay, I need to find…” Jeremy grabbed Chloe’s hand and pulled her up the stairs. He opened the first door on the right, and spotting Rich inside, shoved Chloe in and ran back towards the stairs in less than half a second.

Okay, maybe that was a little… entirely rude, but he was panicking right now.

Jeremy grabbed the shoulder of the first person he found.

“Hey, do you have any of that— uh. Stuff?”

The guy he grabbed blinked at him. “Uh… do you want alcohol, or weed, or—”

“No, the— the stuff that shuts off— ugh, what was it called?” Jeremy grabbed his hair and tugged it a bit, trying to get himself to remember.

“Uh… okay. Y’know, take it easy man, okay?” The guy walked away.

“No, I— ugh!” Jeremy took another breath, and ran his hands through his hair again.

The next second it came to him. “Mountain Dew Red!” he screamed. The people nearby him jumped.

Jeremy grabbed another guy next to him. “Do you have any Mountain Dew Red?”

The guy gave him a weird look and shook his head.

Jeremy choked out a breath as his brain finally caught up with exactly what he was doing. Mountain Dew Red. That was the stuff that shut off the Squips. The Squip. The one he desperately wanted to get rid of. Because he hated it. And was miserable with it.

Jeremy grabbed another girl. “Do you know where I can get Mountain Dew Red?” he asked.

“Uh… Code Red? At a store.”

“Not Code Red, just Red!”

“Um, I’m not sure that’s a thing.”

“It looks like normal Mountain Dew, but red!” Jeremy screamed to the room he was in.

People turned to stare at him.

Jeremy sprinted from the room.

“HEY!” he yelled as he entered the next one, looking around wildly. “SERIOUSLY, WHERE THE FUCK CAN I GET SOME MOUNTAIN DEW RED?!”

Everyone stared at him again. A nearby person muttered ‘drunk’ and turned away.

That was when Jeremy heard the telltale buzz of a returning Squip.

No, no, not now, it couldn’t come back now!

The bar!

Jeremy scrambled towards the bar, over near the kitchen, as the buzzing was getting louder and louder.

“No, no, no,” he whispered to himself.

**Jer—** horrible glitching sounds— **emy.**

_ No! _

People nearby jumped, so he might have screamed that out loud.

Jeremy just managed to grab the counter of the bar when he felt control slip from his fingers. He lost his arms half a second later and then Jeremy couldn’t move, but he still grabbed two bottles of liquor and headed for the kitchen, with everyone staring after him.

**Well. We have quite the predicament here, don’t we.**

_ Let me go. Please just let me go. _ Jeremy felt the familiar headache that meant he would be crying if the Squip wasn’t controlling his tear ducts.

**I would, Jeremy. However, I seem to remember telling you not to disobey again. And when a child misbehaves the child is punished, correct?**

That was a favorite phrase of his mother.

_ What are you going to do? _

Jeremy watched himself open the bottles of liquor and dump them on the ground. Then he grabbed more bottles from the kitchen counter, stocked here in case they ran out, and dumped those out too.

_ What are you doing? _

**Punishing a child.**

Jeremy opened a cabinet, but evidently whatever the Squip needed wasn’t there, because he opened another one, then one more. Then he pulled out a box of matches.

_ No. _

The Squip said nothing. Jeremy walked back over to the puddle of liquor and lit a match.

_ Don’t, please. _

**You have no negotiating right here.**

_ I’ll do it myself! Please, if all you want is for me to die then I’ll do it myself. Just not here, not here! People are going to get hurt! _

Jeremy moved his eyes up to see his mother standing in front of him. **Well.** she said. **That wouldn’t be much of a punishment, would it?**

Jeremy dropped the match.

Jeremy wasn’t sure where he got the willpower, but he screamed.

“GET OUT THERE’S A FIRE!”

The match hit the liquor, and Jeremy watched a fire bloom in what almost seemed to be slow motion. It almost looked beautiful.

Enough people must have heard him, as there were more screams and the sound of running. The footsteps seemed to get quieter and Jeremy felt some of the anxiety in his chest release, and wasn’t that ridiculous? But no one would get hurt, and if he was dead he wouldn’t have to deal with the Squip anymore, so win-win.

That was when Jeremy heard new screaming. It might have been coming from him. He was in a little bit of pain right now.

Wait, no. His scream didn’t sound anything like that.

_ “JEREMY!” _

Jeremy was scooped into someone’s arms, and they ran from the kitchen.

Jeremy could probably find out who it was if the Squip wasn’t still entirely in control of his movements and stopping him from looking.

Jeremy wanted to yell at the person, or get them to drop him. Didn’t they know Jeremy didn’t mind dying? That it might even be preferable to the nightmare his life had become?

The Squip wasn’t trying to get the person to drop him, which confused him. Didn’t it want him to die?

**The point is not death, Jeremy. The point is a punishment.**

Jeremy was coughing quite a bit, and the person carrying him shoved a piece of cloth in his face and told him to breath into that. Jeremy’s Squip made him.

There was a pounding that meant that the person carrying him was now running up the stairs. Jeremy was shifted enough that the person’s face came into view.

Jake. Jake was carrying him up the stairs of his house. The one Jeremy had just set on fire.

_ Why would you do that? Just leave me, just leave me here. _

Jake didn’t hear him, most likely due to the fact that Jeremy didn’t say that out loud.

Jake slammed open the door of the same bedroom Jeremy had shoved Chloe in, the one that was thankfully empty of her and Rich now. He ran across the room and kicked the window out of it’s frame.

“Jake,” Jeremy finally managed to croak. He wasn’t sure how he did manage, with both the Squip and his throat being weak from smoke, but Jake heard him and glanced down.

“Just… go.” Jeremy said. “Go and leave.”

He wasn’t sure how clear that was, but Jake seemed to understand what he was really saying. In response, he held Jeremy to his chest even tighter. “Hell no,” he said. “If you die, who will…” he trailed off, and Jeremy realized a second later he was about to make some kind of joke, but didn’t know what to say.

“If you die I’ll miss you,” he said instead, and he turned so Jeremy was on top of his chest and leapt out the window.


	17. Chapter 17

Michael’s moms found him on the couch at around six in the morning. This was, obviously, early for him.

Michael didn’t really know they were there at first. He wasn’t sure when they saw him, but he was staring at his phone like it was a lifeline, so it was at least before he saw them.

“Michael?”

This was his first alert of their presence, along with Analyn’s hand on his shoulder. Michael didn’t react at first.

“What’s wrong?” Analyn asked, sitting on the couch.

“Do you remember,” Michael said, without looking away from his phone, “that time when we were six, and he burned his hand taking something out of the oven?”

Analyn started rubbing his back. “Jeremy?”

“I think I cried more than he did.”

“What happened?”

Michael unplugged his phone and passed it over almost robotically, and without moving his gaze, pulled his legs up to his chest and rested his chin on them. He heard Analyn’s gasp a second later, and Rachel a couple seconds after that, so she must have handed her his phone.

“It may just be gossip,  _ pulot, _ ” Analyn whispered, rubbing Michael’s back again.

“Not that many people get something wrong, Nanay,” Michael whispered. “I’m surprised Jenna Rolan isn’t confirming everything she comes across and officially legitimizing it.”

“What does Jenna Rolan have to do with this?” Rachel asked from Analyn’s other side.

“Nothing. I just… I’m grasping.”

The room was silent. Rachel stood up and moved to Michael’s other side.

“Rich never came home last night.” Michael’s voice cracked on the last word. Analyn’s hand stilled on his back.

“He never came home.” Michael repeated. “But nothing here says anything about anyone dying. No official things, anyway. There’s some gossip things saying Jeremy’s dead. Do you think they’d tell his dad before us? Didn’t you guys officially adopt Rich and Matt? Did their dad fight or something?”

“No.” Rachel said. “He didn’t.”

“So they would tell us, right?”

“Yes.”

“Is it a good sign that they haven’t?”

“I don’t know.”

The room was silent again.

“Someone should call Matt.” Rachel said.

“I’ll do it.” Michael said.

“No, I’ll do it.” Rachel said. She held Michael out his phone, and he took it from her. She stood and pulled out her own phone and walked into the other room.

Michael leaned onto Analyn’s shoulder.

Michael’s head was a mess of anxieties and he couldn’t focus on the possibility of Rich being… not okay. So he thought about the other person that he loved who was recently sent to a hospital. The person he hadn’t spoken to in a year and a half.

“Do you think Jeremy’s gonna die?” Michael asked softly.

Analyn started rubbing his back again. “I don’t know.” she said eventually.

The room was silent again.

“Do you want to go visit him?” Analyn asked.

“I don’t know.” Michael said. He opened his mouth to say something about how Jeremy wouldn’t even be awake and what would he even say if he was, but the words died before they reached his lips.

Rachel walked back in. “Matt is coming down here.” she said. She walked over and sat back down on the couch.

“I’m going to the hospital to visit Jeremy.” Analyn said.

“Why?” Michael asked, looking up at her.

“Because I don’t know if anyone else will. And I might be able to ask some of his friends about Rich if they’re there.”

“I’ll go with you.” Michael said, standing.

“I’ll stay here.” Rachael said. “In case… someone comes.”

They all looked away.

“It’s Sunday, so we don’t need to remember to call off of work or school. We should probably all go tomorrow.” Rachel said.

“Okay.” Analyn said.

Michael nodded, and they all ignored the unspoken statement of ‘Unless Rich is—’

Michael followed Analyn out to the car. Luckily for the both of them, they were dressed in clothes that weren’t pajamas, because neither of them were changing.

“Hey, Nanay?” Michael asked, as she pulled out of the driveway.

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I’ve slept in over 24 hours.”

“You should sleep on the way to the hospital.”

Michael nodded and leaned his head on the door and shut his eyes. It seemed like seconds later that he was shaken awake.

“We’re here.” Analyn said.

Michael stretched and yawned. He climbed out of the car and managed to shake himself awake a little with some help from the chilly morning.

They both walked up towards the doors to the hospital without speaking. They walked inside, and Michael stayed hovering by the door while Analyn went up to the man at the front desk and asked about Jeremy.

She returned a couple minutes later with the room number 304, and they both headed to the elevators.

They were silent on the way up, and Michael’s thoughts were bouncing all over the place. So, Jeremey wasn’t going to be awake, right? No way. He was spared from an awkward conversation at least.

Wow. That sounded awful. Obviously he wanted Jeremy to be okay. Even if it meant dealing with an awkward conversation.

“Did the guy at the front desk tell you anything?” Michael asked.

“He didn’t know anything.” Analyn said. “We’ll have to find the doctor.”

The elevator was silent again. It lasted about a half second before the door ‘dinged’ and opened.

They found their way to room 304, and Michael hesitated before going inside. He probably would have waited outside for another half an hour while questioning whether or not he should go in if Analyn didn’t open the door and walk in first.

Oh, yeah. He definitely shouldn’t have done this.

Jeremy was unconscious in the bed by the window, breathing shallowly, and encased in a full body cast. And Michael still could not say what he felt. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to talk to Jeremy. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to feel bad for Jeremy, or if he did. In fact, the one thing he was sure of was that he felt like he was going to puke.

Analyn grabbed his hand and squeezed, as if sensing his emotional turmoil. Michael squeezed back. He was pretty sure his mom had no uncertainty about what she was feeling. She was probably thinking about any and all ways she could help Jeremy, and wanting to go hold him close and comfort him. After all, Jeremy had been like a second son to both her and Rachel for more than a decade. The same way Rich now was.

“You okay,  _ pulot? _ ” Analyn asked quietly.

“I don’t think so.” Michael replied.

The room was silent again.

…

Michael was sitting in a chair near the bed. Analyn had left to go to the bathroom, so when the door opened he assumed that’s who it was.

_ “You!” _

Michael whirled around in surprise at the venomous voice. Chloe Valentine was standing in the doorway, and Brooke Lohst was marching across the room towards him.

She grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him up towards her face, and Michael was too shocked to do anything. “What the  _ fuck _ are you doing here? What gives you the right to be here?”

Michael’s brain finally caught up and he shoved Brooke off. “Hey, that’s pretty fucking rude, Lohst. I’m here with my Nanay to see if Jeremy’s okay, and if Rich is hurt.”

“What the fuck is a ‘Nanay?’”

“She’s my  _ mom.” _

“Where is she?”

“In the  _ bathroom! _ Can you stop interrogating me?”

“When you earn it!”

By this point, Chloe had walked up to Brooke’s side with her arms crossed, looking just as angry.

“Hey.” Michael stepped towards the two of them. “I’m still not really clear on what the fuck your problem is with me, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat me like I’m a fucking dick. And can we at least stop yelling next to the unconscious person in a body cast?”

Brooke and Chloe glanced over at Jeremy, followed by Brooke grabbing his arm and dragging him from the room.

_ Holy shit, she’s strong. _

“Hey— let go of me!” Michael finally managed to drag his hand from Brooke’s grasp. “What the fuck is your  _ problem?” _

“You’re our problem!” Chloe snapped. “So why don’t you go home with your ‘Nanay?’ If you show your face here again you’ll regret it!”

“Jesus, you guys are the fucking worst!” Michael said, crossing his arms. “Can I not just visit Jeremy because I’m worried about him?”

“You’re not!” Chloe said.

“How the fuck do you know?!” Michael snapped. A second later he realized that was true— he was pretty terrified out of his mind that Jeremy would die. Well, at least now he knew something he was feeling.

“Because we know you!” Brooke said, crossing her own arms.

_ “Bullshit.” _ Michael growled.

Chloe walked back over to the door and opened it. “Stay away from Jeremy.” she said, and they both walked back inside, shutting the door after them.

A nurse came around the corner a second later. “Sir, please do not yell.” he said.

“Yeah, sorry.” Michael said, leaning back against the wall next to Jeremy’s room.

The nurse nodded and walked back off to whatever he had been doing before.

A moment after that someone else walked around the corner. Jenna Rolan was heading towards Jeremy’s room, and when she noticed Michael she paused. She looked about half as angry as Brooke and Chloe, and about twice as unsure.

If Michael was going to ask about Rich, she was clearly his best bet. “Hey, Jenna?” he asked, cutting her off before she walked into Jeremy’s room.

Jenna bit her lip and tried to sidestep him. “Please just leave me alone.” she said quietly.

“No, please! I just—” To Michael’s surprise, he was starting to tear up. The stress of everything had built up, from last night and what Rich had said to him, to leaving the house what must have been minutes before it caught on fire, to Jeremy being badly hurt, to not knowing if Rich was okay. “Please, Rich didn’t come home last night. I don’t know how I’d live with myself if he wasn’t okay, Jenna, please—” Michael wiped at his eyes before he actually started to cry in front of Jenna Rolan. “Do you know if he’s okay?”

Jenna was staring at him in equal parts concern and contemplation. She was quiet for a long moment, and finally said: “He’s staying at Brooke’s house. He’s not hurt. I doubt you’re getting either Brooke or him to agree to him leaving, though.”

Michael let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the wall.

“What happened?” came Analyn’s voice, and Michael looked up to see her walking down the hall.

“Rich is okay, Nanay.” Michael said as she got close. “He’s okay and he’s safe.”

Analyn breathed out a sigh of her own, and grabbed Michael and pulled him close. Michael squeezed her tightly.

When they both let go, Jenna was still looking at them. “I need to talk to you.” she said to Michael.

“I need to call my wife and we need to go home.” Analyn said. “Michael, you need to come tell us what’s going on with Rich.”

“Tomorrow?” Michael asked.

Jenna nodded. “School.”

Michael nodded back, and followed Nanay down towards his car.

“I don’t think we’ll be welcome to come back to see Jeremy.” Michael said quietly, once he climbed into the front seat. “His new friends aren’t super thrilled with me.”

Analyn sighed. “Alright.” she said. “We’ll talk about that later. Let’s just head home and figure out this stuff with Rich for now.”

“Okay.” Michael said. “I’m sleeping on the way home.”


	18. Chapter 18

Brooke was woken by a loud ringing of her phone. She scrambled for it and glanced at the screen. Seeing Chloe’s name, she hit ‘accept.’

_ “Brooke!” _ Chloe screamed, which was way too loud for early on a Sunday morning.

“Be quiet.” Brooke groaned. “I thought you’d be hungover, how are you screaming?”

_ “Brooke, Jeremy is in the hospital!” _

Brooke shot upright in bed. “What?!”

_ “He burned down Jake’s house last night!” _

“He fucking did _ what?!” _

Chloe took a couple of deep, strangling breaths. She began quieter, but still clearly panicking. “He burned Jake’s house down, and now he’s in the hospital. Jake broke his legs getting him out.”

“Are you kidding?” Brooke asked.

“No.”

“Okay, we need— I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you.” Chloe said, sounding close to hysterical tears.

Brooke dove out of bed and pulled clothes on in half a minute. She put socks and shoes on just as fast, and barely remembered to head to the guest room before leaving.

“Rich!” she screamed, opening the door.

Rich jerked awake in the bed and nearly fell off.

“Sorry!” Brooke called. “Hey, can you tell my parents that I’m going to the hospital?”

Rich blinked at her in surprise. “What? Why?”

“Jeremy’s there. He burned Jake’s house down last night.”

Rich blinked at her again. “I’m sorry, he did what?”

“I gotta go! Tell my parents, okay?”

“Woah, wait, Brooke—”

Brooke was already sprinting out the door before Rich finished his sentence.

She arrived at Chloe’s about five minutes later, who was already waiting on the front porch and sprinted down towards the car as Brooke pulled up.

She had barely closed the door when Brooke drove off again, probably a little too fast.

Chloe called Jenna and held the phone up speaker in between the two of them.

Jenna picked up quickly. “Have you heard?” she asked, in a tone that meant she was talking about exactly the same thing they were.

“That’s why we’re calling.” Chloe said.

“Okay, so what exactly happened?” Brooke asked.

“It’s posted all over.” Jenna said. “Jeremy burned down Jake’s house and Jake broke his legs trying to get out.”

“How reliable is that?” Brooke asked.

_ “Tons _ of people are saying it. I’m not sure about individual details in each story. I doubt Jeremy set a fire ‘cause he knew he was gay. But enough people have similar stories that I’m pretty sure we can confirm Jake broke his legs, and Jeremy burned down his house.”

“Why the fuck would he do that?” Chloe asked. “It has to be an accident, right?”

“I don’t know. And I’m not going to try and guess this time.” Jenna said. “I’d rather wait and ask Jeremy.”

Brooke was a little surprised. Usually Jenna jumped on a story. But Jeremy meant a lot to all of them. He had done a lot to draw the group closer. When she thought for a moment, it wasn’t really that surprising.

“We’re on our way to the hospital.” Chloe said.

“Me too.” Jenna said. “I live farther away, so you’ll probably get there before me.”

“I’ll text you the room number when we know.” Brooke said.

“Thank you.”

Chloe hung up and Brooke focused on driving.

They got to the hospital about ten minutes later, and it took them far too long to find a parking spot.

Chloe walked up to the front desk as they walked through the doors. “Hi, we’re Jeremy Heere’s friends, we’re here to visit him, as well as Jake Dillinger.”

“Okay.” the man there said. He looked at something on his computer. “Jeremy is in Room 304 and Jake is in room 305.”

“Thank you.” Chloe said, and they both headed for the elevators. They got on and hit the button for the third floor.

“You want to see Jeremy or Jake first?” Chloe asked, pulling out her phone to text Jenna.

“Jeremy.” Brooke said. “It sounds like he’ll be worse off.”

Chloe nodded, and put her phone away as the elevator _ dinged _ and they both stepped off. They paused when they arrived at room 304, and Chloe leaned in to give Brooke a reassuring squeeze. Brooke took a breath and they both walked into the hospital room.

The first thing Brooke saw was about her least favorite person in the world.

_ “You!” _

Michael whirled around in surprise at the same time Brooke started marching towards him. She grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him up towards her face. “What the _ fuck _ are you doing here? What gives you the right to be here?” she snapped, because honestly, how dare he?

Michael’s shoved Brooke off. “Hey, that’s pretty fucking rude, Lohst.” he said. “I’m here with my Nanay to see if Jeremy’s okay, and if Rich is hurt.”

See if Jeremy’s okay? That’s rich. That’s _ Rich. _ Brooke would have groaned at her unintentional mental pun if she wasn’t so pissed about Michael insinuating he cared about Jeremy and Rich. But right now, more than having an argument or being clever, Brooke just felt an overwhelming desire to piss Michael off. “What the fuck is a ‘Nanay?’”

“She’s my _ mom.” _

Uh huh, sure. “Where is she?”

“In the _ bathroom! _ Can you stop interrogating me?”

“When you earn it!”

Chloe walked up and joined Brooke at her side, but she barely noticed.

“Hey.” Michael said, stepping towards her a little. “I’m still not really clear on what the fuck your problem is with me, but it doesn’t give you the right to treat me like I’m a fucking dick. And can we at least stop yelling next to the unconscious person in a body cast?”

Brooke glanced over at Jeremy, and alright, maybe he had a point. She leaned forward, grabbed his arm, and proceeded to drag him from the room, not letting go for the life of her.

“Hey— let go of me!” Michael yanked his hand from Brooke’s grasp as they finally got out of the room. Brooke managed to position herself in front of the door. “What the fuck is your _ problem?” _

“You’re our problem!” Chloe snapped. “So why don’t you go home with your ‘Nanay?’ If you show your face here again you’ll regret it!”

“Jesus, you guys are the fucking worst!” Michael said, crossing his arms. “Can I not just visit Jeremy because I’m worried about him?”

Brooke wanted to laugh and scream. Chloe beat her to it.

“You’re not!” she said.

“How the fuck do you know?!” Michael snapped.

“Because we know you!” Brooke said, crossing her arms at him. Whether he liked it or not, they knew what he’d done.

_ “Bullshit.” _ Michael growled.

Chloe walked back over to the door and opened it, and Brooke followed. “Stay away from Jeremy.” she said, and they both walked back inside, shutting the door after them.

Brooke wanted to scream, but she wasn’t going to even risk waking up Jeremy. “Can you believe him?” she asked Chloe.

“Nope. I’ve stopped trying.” Chloe replied.

“We’re not gonna tell Jeremy he came, right?”

“Of course not.”

Brooke let out a quiet sigh of part irritation, part exhaustion, and walked back over to Jeremy’s bed. She sat down in the chair Michael had been in before, and took a moment to assess how absolutely awful Jeremy looked. He was in a full body cast, pale and weak, and looked like he was about to—

Nope.

Chloe took the chair next to her, and about ten seconds later the door opened. Brooke turned around and was about to say fuck it all and start screaming, when she saw Jenna. She looked unsure about something.

“You okay?” Brooke asked, softening her face and tone from what it would have been a few seconds ago as Jenna walked over and sat down in the last chair.

“I just talked to Michael.” she said.

Chloe groaned. “Us too.” she said. “He has the nerve to show up here and pretend he cares—”

“I’m not so sure he’s pretending.” Jenna said softly.

Brooke stared at her. “What?”

“He looked really upset.” Jenna said. “Maybe… maybe Michael hasn’t been as horrible to Jeremy as we all think he has.”

Brooke narrowed her eyes. “What, you think Jeremy’s lying?” she asked.

“No, of course not.” Jenna said, holding her hands up. “But… maybe Jeremy’s _ wrong.” _

Brooke blinked at her. “Jenna, Michael told him everything directly. That would be pretty hard to misinterpret.”

Jenna shook her head a little. “I don’t know… the more I think about it, the more something’s not adding up somewhere.”

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked.

“I don’t know. I’m going to ask Rich and Jake some things.” Jenna stood up.

“You’re going to visit Jake?” Brooke asked, standing. “Can we come?”

Jenna nodded. “Sure.”

The three of them stood and walked across the hall. To their surprise, when they opened the door Jake was awake. “Guys!” he called.

“Jake!” Brooke called, suddenly running forward before she could think about it. She managed to slow herself down enough to hug Jake without hurting him, though she really only had to be worried about his legs, which were both in elevated casts. “What happened? I mean—” she leaned back and wiped at her eyes. “Obviously we know what happened, but— how’d you get hurt?”

“I was getting Jeremy out.” Jake said. Brooke stared at him as she tried to process this.

“You were?” Jenna asked from over her shoulder. From her tone of voice, she wasn’t very surprised.

Jake nodded, and something in his face fell. “I think… he seemed like he was trying to…” he stopped, clearly unable to say it.

Tears welled in Brooke’s eyes, and she leaned forward and hugged Jake again. “We said we were gonna look out for him,” she said, her voice cracking, and Jake put his arms around her shoulders as best he could.

“Woah, hey.” Chloe walked forward and looked at both Brooke and Jake in turn. “This isn’t your fault.”

Brooke sniffed and wiped her eyes. “But—”

“Chloe’s right, it’s not.” Jenna said, stepping forward herself. “Look, all of us love Jeremy. And we’re definitely going to be there for him. But any of us blaming ourselves isn’t going to help anything. Okay?”

Brooke sniffed one more time, and nodded.

“Yeah, okay.” Jake said softly.

They spent about five minutes talking about nothing in an attempt to get Jake’s mind off things. Kind of hard when he’s sitting in the hospital with broken legs in the room across from his best friend who burned his house down last night.

Their conversation was interrupted when someone came running in through the open door.

“Jake!”

Brooke turned to see a middle-aged man in a suit who really couldn’t have been anyone but Jeremy’s father.

“Um… hi, Mr. Heere.” Jake said, clearly very uncomfortable. “Are you here about Jeremy?”

Mr. Heere nodded, walking forward toward the bed. “They gave me his room number but the doctor said he was unconscious, and then I heard you. I was hoping you could tell me what happened?” He looked close to panic.

Oh, man, Brooke was so not ready for this conversation.

It seemed Jake felt the same way, because the person who hesitantly stepped forward was Chloe. “Jeremy burned Jake’s house down, Mr. Heere.” she said quietly. “We think that he… um… did it himself.”

Mr. Heere’s face fell, and Brooke was pretty sure she’d never seen so much crushing guilt in one person’s face before. He stepped backwards across the room and sank into a chair.

Brooke looked away. “I can’t.” she said quietly to Chloe.

“I’ll talk to him.” Jenna said suddenly, and walked across the room.

“I’ve never even seen him before.” Chloe said, soft enough so Mr. Heere wouldn’t hear (under normal circumstances Brooke would have laughed).

“He’s never been the best father,” Jake said. “But not because he doesn’t love Jeremy.”

“I’m gonna go back over and check on Jeremy.” Brooke said.

“I’ll come with you.” Chloe said. “You’re good here, Jake?”

“Yeah. Keep me updated?”

“Of course.”

They both walked back across the hall and to the other room. Jeremy, unsurprisingly, had not improved. They sat down by the bed and said nothing for a few seconds until Brooke buried her head in her hands. “This is the worst.” she said.

“I keep thinking about how much easier this would have been if it was a year and a half ago and none of us cared about each other,” Chloe whispered.

Brooke sniffed. “You really want that?” she asked.

Chloe hesitated. “No. Not really. But it sure as hell would be easier to be joining that gossip pool right now.”

Brooke turned around and buried her face in Chloe’s chest, and Chloe wrapped her arms around her. “I want this not to have happened.” she whispered.

“I think we all do.” Chloe said.

“The gossip pool certainly doesn’t.”

“Everyone in the gossip pool is a fucking dickhead.”

Brooke leaned back. “You just said it would be easier to join it.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to do it.”

Brooke shook her head. “I don’t think that makes a lot of sense, Chloe.”

“Nothing makes sense to me right now.”

Brooke nodded a little. “Can I take a nap on your shoulder?” she asked a second later. “I didn’t really get enough sleep last night.”

“Go for it.” Chloe said, offering her shoulder. Brooke laid her head on it, and in a couple minutes was out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been feeling very stressed lately, so I have decided to take two weeks off of writing for sort of a mental break. I’m not abandoning this story, I promise (I love writing it way too much). I will be back in two weeks.


	19. Chapter 19

_ This is the worst. _

**It is in some ways regrettable.**

_ Did you know this was going to happen? _ Rich set his phone down and turned to face his Squip, pausing in his pacing back and forth in Brooke’s guest room.  _ Wait, what do you mean in some ways? Why would Jeremy’s Squip let him do this? _

His Squip seemed to be hesitating. Finally, it spoke.

**Jeremy was under a lot of pressure that night. With his Squip disabled due to the alcohol, it seems he lacked the proper… coping mechanism.**

_ You did know. _ Rich realized.  _ You— you made me leave the party. _

**I was aware of certain… probabilities.**

_ You knew people were going to get hurt!  _ Rich snapped.  _ You— _ He froze.  _ Michael. Is Michael okay? _

**Michael is fine. He left before the fire.**

_ Does he know  _ I’m _ okay? Holy shit, I need to call him, or Analyn or— _

**Rich. You do not need to call anyone.**

_ But if they’re worried then— _

**They are not.**

_ They— what? _

**They are not your family, remember? They are not worried enough to warrant calling them.**

Rich looked down.  _ They’re not? Are you sure? _

** _Positive. I know better than you, remember?_ **

_ Why me? _ Rich asked suddenly.

**I don’t understand the question.**

_ You could be inside much smarter and more capable people than me. So why me? What do you want? _

**I promise you, my sole function is to improve your life.**

_ Well if you’re supposed to improve my life why isn’t it better? Michael thinks I’m a jerk and has apparently stopped caring about me. Jeremy still hates me. And so does Jake! I thought you were supposed to help me make him like me! _

**I will, in time. Jake is only human. I must account for human error.**

_ You were supposed to make everything better, _ Rich reiterated.  _ So why isn’t it? _

His Squip sighed.  **You have had baggage to dispose of that was slowing your progress.**

Rich stared.  _ Are you talking about Michael? _

**Yes.**

_ He’s not ‘baggage.’ _

**He has greatly slowed your progress due to Jake’s dislike of him. Brooke and Chloe also greatly dislike him, and he cares very much for them. Chloe, Brooke, Jake, Jeremy, and Jenna’s relationships with each other and Michael are hindering your progress towards Jake. Simply put, human activity is a matter of input as well as output. The fault is in your peers.**

Rich bit his lip.  _ What are you saying? _

**You will see tomorrow. There is nothing for us to do for now. You may spend the rest of the day doing whatever you wish.**

Rich found it hard to focus. He would have gone to see what books Brooke had, or maybe done a little writing, but his brain was going all over the place. What he really wanted to do was call Michael, reassure him he was okay, and apologize for what he’d said last night. The Squip said he wasn’t worried though, which… didn’t feel great. Why wouldn't Michael be worried? He could have  _ died! _

Rich sighed and started pacing again. Should he go visit Jeremy? He didn’t particularly want to. Maybe he should visit Jake.

Actually, that wasn’t an idea he totally hated.

**You do not have a car, Rich. Brooke left rather quickly taking her mother’s car. You informed her mother of this, remember? And then her father went to go grocery shopping, as they now have to provide you with food for as long as you are here.**

_ Right, yeah. Sorry. _

The door opened, and Brooke’s mother poked her head in. “Rich, honey? How are you?”

“I’m fine, Mrs. Lohst.” Rich said. “Thank you so much for letting me stay here.”

“You can call me, Stacy, hun. And it’s no trouble at all. Brooke said you needed some time to think everything over away from your family, and we have plenty of space.”

Rich bit back a ‘They’re not really my family’ that seemed to have suddenly become a knee-jerk response. He wondered where that had come from.

“I’m going to make some lunch. We don’t have much, which is why Robert went to the store. Is a peanut butter and jelly okay?”

Rich smiled. “That’s fine. Thanks so much.”

“No problem. I’ll have it done in just a minute.”

She headed out, and Rich started pacing again. He wondered what the Squip’s new plan was, if he would like it.

**I have already informed you that you will learn tomorrow, Rich.**

_ Yeah, I know, I just… I’m not so sure about this. _

**Rich, I know how this is going to work. I know better than you. You do trust me, correct?**

Rich hesitated, and nodded.

**Then don’t worry about it. I will take care of everything, I promise.**

Rich nodded again. Brooke’s mom called him, and he headed towards the kitchen to eat peanut butter and jelly.

…

Rich was shutting his locker at school the next morning when his Squip spoke up.

**Come with me.**

_ Where are we going?  _ Rich asked, following his Squip as it floated down the hall.

His Squip didn’t reply until they stopped outside Jeremy’s locker.

**Open it.**

_ I don’t know the combination. _

**Put your hand on the dial.**

Rich did, and suddenly his hand turned to what must have been the right numbers, as the locker opened a second later.

_ Ladies running shoes? _

**Take it.**

Rich grabbed the box and shut the locker, about to head back towards his first class when the Squip spoke up again.

**Jenna Rolan is about to approach you. Your conversation will greatly advance you towards your goal, so I am going to handle it.**

_ Um… okay. _

The next second the feeling went out of Rich’s legs, which was a little more terrifying and sudden than his hand moving the locker dial had been.

**Relax, Rich. I know what I’m doing.**

Rich felt himself turn around to see Jenna approaching. She noticed him, and hesitated for a second before something set in her face and she walked over.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked.

Rich nodded. “Sure.” his Squip made him say.

“Not here.”

“Uh, okay—”

Jenna grabbed Rich’s arm and pulled him into the nearby theatre. So now he had two outside forces controlling his movements. Awesome.

“Okay.” Jenna let go of Rich and shut the door. “I’m ready to listen.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Tell me Michael’s side of the story. What does he think happened with Jeremy?”

_ Wait, what? _

**I can handle this, Rich. Remember, this is all to forward your goal.**

Rich felt his gaze harden. “Oh, now you’re ready to listen. Thanks so much. You know all of you guys hating Michael for no reason has made him mad at me too.”

Jenna’s eyes widened. “Wait, really? Rich, I’m sorry.”

“Uh huh, sure. That totally makes up for getting yelled at and practically kicked out.”

Now Jenna looked confused. “Wait, he kicked you out? But at the hospital—”

“Just give me one good reason why I should tell you anything!”

Jenna stopped. She but her lip. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m just… something about Jeremy and Michael isn’t adding up. I’m trying to put the pieces together.”

“Oh.” Rich felt his Squip immediately calm his face down. “Well why didn’t you say so?” He set the shoe box down on the arm of a nearby chair and opened it.

_ Wait, are those— _

**Yes, Rich. That’s a simple observation.**

Rich held up a Squip to Jenna. “This will explain.”

Jenna looked at Rich like he was crazy. “A gray pill?”

“It’s not just a gray pill. It’s a supercomputer compressed inside a gray pill. It’s called a Squip. I have one, and so does Jeremy. It can tell you exactly what happened.”

_ Um, Squip? _

**Relax and let me handle it Rich.**

_ I don’t like this. It kind of feels like tricking her. _

**I said relax, Rich.**

Something in Rich’s head quieted and he did find himself suddenly relaxing.

**I can handle it.**

_ Okay. _ Rich thought quietly.

“I’m… not so sure about this.” Jenna said slowly. “You said you and Jeremy both have one?”

The Squip nodded.

“Jeremy’s… not exactly in the best shape right now. Will something like that happen to me?”

The Squip waved off her concern. “Jeremy’s Squip was malfunctioning. It’s horrible, but not his Squip’s fault. You want answers, right?”

Jenna bit her lip. “And you can’t just tell me?”

“How about this. You take one of these, with Mountain Dew, and I’ll answer any more questions you have.” the Squip said, handing Jenna the pill.

Jenna looked up at the Squip, clearly calculating. “…Alright.” she said finally. She took the pill, and the Squip handed her a bottle of Mountain Dew from Rich’s backpack. Oh, that was why he had Rich bring it that morning.

Jenna put the pill in her mouth and swallowed it with the Mountain Dew.

“Okay, there.” she said. “Now can you—” A second later she cried out and grabbed her head.

Rich jumped in surprise without moving, and whatever relaxation he’d been feeling quickly drained away.

_ Jenna! _

She nearly fell, and the Squip leaned forward and caught her, helping guide her to the ground.

_ Jenna, Jenna oh God, Jenna! _

**Be quiet, Rich.**

A second later Jenna opened her eyes.

“Wha—” she started.

**Up up down down left right A.**

Jenna suddenly stopped.

“It’s alright Jenna.” the Squip said, standing. “Stand up now.”

Jenna did, her face suddenly looking blank.

_ No no no stop it stop it I don’t like this! _

**Rich, be quiet.**

_ I don’t like this! Bring her back! _

“It’s okay, Rich.” Jenna said, and her voice sounded so wrong.

“No it’s not!” Rich burst out, surprised it happened out loud. “Stop it, what did you do?!”

**Rich, you are being quite irritating right now.**

“No, I don’t want this!”

His Squip sighed.  **Rich. This is necessary to forward your goal.**

“No! Find another way! This is—”

**Rich, I am going to release some serotonin to help calm you down.**

_ “Don’t—” _

Rich stumbled a little and blinked before the Squip directed him over to a chair.  **Are you calmer now?**

Rich nodded.  _ But I don’t want to do this. _ he insisted.

**It is merely temporary. When we achieve your goal we will of course release control of Jenna.**

Rich shook his head.  _ But that makes her a means to our end, and that’s— _

**Jenna doesn’t mind.**

_ She… doesn’t? _

“Of course not, Rich.” Jenna walked forward, and her face looked noticeably less blank than a second ago. “I don’t mind at all.”

_ But… _

**Rich.**

Rich looked up at his Squip.  _ Yeah? _

**I know better than you, remember? It’s fine.**

Rich slowly nodded.  _ I guess… okay. _

**Excellent. Then come on, we have work to do.**


	20. Chapter 20

Matt arrived Monday afternoon, and after reassuring Analyn and Rachel that he was fine and a lot of hugging and worried proclamations about Rich, he grabbed Michael and dragged him down to his room.

“You got Mountain Dew Red?” Michael asked as soon as he shut the door.

“You get it here.” Matt said. “There’s a guy at the back of Spencer’s Gifts.”

“Oh!” Michael called. “I know him! He was gonna hook me up with Crystal Pepsi the day Rich took my car to the mall!”

“You think you can get him to give you some?”

“Give me some, no, but I think I have enough to buy it.” Michael headed over to his dresser and pulled his wallet out from the top drawer.

It was empty.

“Dammit, Rich!” he hissed. “I knew he didn’t have enough for a Squip and all those new clothes!”

“What’s wrong?” Matt asked.

“Rich stole my 200 bucks a while ago.” Michael said. “I haven’t had any reason to look before now.”

“Here.” Matt pulled out his debit card.

Michael shook his head. “I’m pretty sure he’ll only take cash.”

“Okay, I’ll run by the bank.” Matt said.

“Thanks, Matt. I’ll come with you, and to buy the soda. The he’ll probably give me a discount if I’m there.”

“How much do you think we’ll need?”

“Probably about $200. You got that much to spare?”

“I’ll make it work.”

That meant ‘no,’ but Michael knew it would be pretty pointless to argue, so they both headed up the stairs and told their moms they were going out to hopefully get something that would help Rich.

“Okay, keep us updated.” Analyn said.

Michael nodded, and grabbed the keys for his PT Cruiser. Matt climbed into the driver’s seat and started the car (Michael was still running on too little sleep to drive) as Michael got in the passenger’s seat.

“Hey, Michael.” Matt said.

“Yeah?”

“About keeping our moms updated.” He backed out of the driveway and started towards the bank.

“Yeah?”

“I think we should… you know, keep them updated.”

Matt pulled up to a red light as Michael glanced over at him. “Seriously?”

“They deserve to know what’s happening.” The light turned green and Matt pulled away. “And they’ll be able to help better if they’re informed.”

“What if they don’t believe us? What if they think we’re making an insensitive joke?”

“They know we wouldn’t joke about this, Michael.” Matt said.

Michael sighed. He didn’t say anything at first, turning the idea over in his head.

Matt was probably right. Their moms would probably believe them. And they might be able to help with Rich. Honestly, the main reason he didn’t want to tell them was that he didn’t want them to snap at him about how he could have handled this better.

…Which was probably an irrational fear.

“Yeah, alright. We’ll tell them.” he said.

Matt nodded and gave him smile. A second later they pulled into the bank.

Michael stayed in the car while Matt went inside. Michael managed to get a couple minutes of sleep in until Matt opened the door and climbed in.

“You can keep sleeping if you want, dude.” Matt said, as he started towards the mall. “Analyn said you haven’t been sleeping great.”

“It’s okay.” Micheal said quietly. “If I sleep for too long I have nightmares. I would absolutely be a zombie right now if I wasn’t almost constantly running on adrenaline.”

“Oh.” Matt said. He was quiet for half a second. “Well—”

“Which is stupid, right? I’m not even the one with the Squip.”

“No, it’s not stupid, Michael. You’re worried, and you’ve been through a lot yourself.” Matt said. “Don’t invalidate your problems.”

“That’s Therapist Matt talking.”

“It is, and you should listen to Therapist Matt this time.”

Michael chuckled a little. “I think we’re all gonna need some Therapist Matt soon.”

“Well,” Matt said slowly. “It’s not a good idea for your therapist to be someone you know. I’m also not done studying yet. But when this is all over, I don’t think therapy would be a terrible idea. For you, Rich, or Jeremy.”

Michael nodded slowly. “You might be right.” he admitted. He leaned against the window.

They got to the mall about ten minutes later.

“Okay, look.” Michael said as they walked towards Spencer’s Gifts. “I’m a regular customer, and Devon, the guy who works there, knows me by name. I would consider us acquaintances. But he will still try and get as much money from me as possible, so we’re gonna act like we just kinda want this soda. He’ll see through that, but he’ll play along. Just let me do the talking.”

Matt gave Michael a look. “That’s really weird.”

“It’s just how this works.” Michael walked across the mall and into Spencer’s Gifts on the other side. Matt followed.

“Hey, Michael.” Devon said as they walked in. “Long time no see.”

“Hey, Devon.” Michael said. “I was wondering if you have this soda I’ve heard about.”

“90s soda?” Devon asked.

“I think so. Mountain Dew Red. Not Code Red, just Red.”

Devon raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I have some. How bad you want it?”

Michael shrugged. “Just curious, really. You know how I get about old soda. I can give you a hundred bucks for it.”

Devon chuckled. “This stuff is hard to find, my friend. I’ll take three hundred.”

“Hundred fifty.”

“Two seventy five.”

“I can go a hundred seventy five.”

“Two fifty.”

“One hundred eighty.”

“Two twenty five.”

“Two hundred.”

Devon pretended to mull over this for a second. “Deal.” he said, holding out his hand. Michael shook it.

Devon disappeared into the back of the store and came out a second later with a old-looking bottle that said Mountain Dew Red.

“Hey, Devon.” Michael said, as he handed over the two hundred and took the bottle. “How much would it cost to switch my crystal pepsi deal to this stuff?”

“Hundred fifty, final deal.” Devon said.

“I’ll bring it next time.”

“I’ll switch you over.” Devon grabbed a pad and paper and wrote something down.

“Thanks.” Michael said, and he and Matt both walked out, Matt giving him a weird look.

“Why’d you switch your… thing?” Matt asked.

“Just in case.”

“It looks like you were both already planning on two hundred dollars.”

“Probably, yeah.”

“So why not just say that up front?”

“‘Cause then he would have tried to get more money out of me than I was willing to spend. You start lower. That’s just how it works.”

“But then the hundred fifty thing was the final deal?”

“That’s ‘cause I was trying to switch a deal I already had.” Michael chuckled a little. “Also we were both clearly low on time and didn’t want to dance around numbers again.”

Matt sighed. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s called negotiating.”

“Yeah, I know what it  _ is. _ I just think it’s stupid.”

“Well, we got the Mountain Dew Red for two hundred, which is what we were planning on, so let’s head back and tell my moms that their son has an evil supercomputer in his head.” Michael sighed. “This’ll be fun.”

“Undoubtedly.”

…

“Alright, so.” Rachel rubbed her head like this whole conversation was giving her a headache. “You’re saying that Rich has a supercomputer in his head?”

Michael nodded. “I think, given everything, it’s time you know.” he said, and Matt nodded next to him. “And I know it sounds hard to believe.”

“Jeremy has one too.” Matt piped up. Michael nodded.

“He did? When did he get one?” Analyn asked.

Michael and Matt looked at each other, and Michael thought for a minute. “When the three of us were on our camping trip.” he realized.

Matt nodded in agreement. “That makes the most sense.” he admitted.

“Okay, okay.” Rachel started massaging her temple. “So Rich and Jeremy both have evil supercomputers in their heads.”

Matt nodded. “And Jeremy’s is the reason that he’s in the hospital. And Rich’s is currently planning something.”

“Yeah, something big we’re pretty sure.” Michael said. “At least that’s what I assumed when Jenna got squipped.” He paused. “And I kind of assumed she got squipped when she suddenly started being an ass to me and forgot about what she seemed to desperately want to talk to me about.”

Matt snorted. “Y’know, I bet Squips would hate the term ‘squipped.’”

“Excellent, I will continue to use it.”

“Jesus, how are you two so calm about this?” Rachel asked.

“I’m panicking.” Michael said. “Explaining it to you guys is just making it easier to not start screaming at the top of my lungs. Plus we have a way to help Rich now.” He gestured to the Mountain Dew Red that was now sitting on the table in front of them. “Aside from the fact that we don’t have any way to find him, because no one will tell me where Brooke’s house is and he’s not answering anyone’s texts and I’m not seeing him at school.”

Rachel let out a long breath, and Analyn grabbed her hand.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Rachel asked.

“I’m keeping an eye out for Rich and trying to help him myself. At the latest opportunity, we’ll all go to the play next week and catch him afterwards. Then we basically hold him down and force-feed him Mountain Dew Red.”

“Even if he doesn’t want help?” Matt asked.

“Yes.” Analyn said suddenly. “Because we’re his mothers and we say so.”

All of them stared at her in surprise for a minute, before Rachel nodded. “Sometimes people don’t know when they need help.” she said.

“Okay.” Michael said.

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment as the weight of what was happening settled.

Analyn stood up and walked over towards Michael. Before Michael could say anything, she wrapped her arms around him. “I’m sorry this all has happened to you.” she whispered. “And I’m sorry you’re carrying so much of this.”

Michael sniffed and put his arms around his Nanay. Rachel joined a second later, and so did Matt. They all remained there for at least five minutes without saying anything, and if any (all) of them were crying, no one was judging anyone.

…

“Okay. I’ll take this for now.” Michael tucked the bottle of Mountain Dew Red inside his hoodie pocket and turned to the other three people in the room. All of them were standing there a little awkwardly, unsure of what to do. The soda was the only real “weapon” they had, since it wasn’t like they were going to bring something that would actually hurt Rich.

Michael had tried to approach Rich a couple times after buying the Mountain Dew Red, but had failed each time due to Brooke, Chloe, and Jenna, who he was now positive had been squipped. It was even worse watching from the sidelines than he’d thought it would be, because there were times Rich would look right at him, then look away sadly like he had almost seen Michael. These were the times Michael would try and approach him, only to be blocked suddenly by one of the three aforementioned girls.

“Ugh, this is so frustrating.” Matt said, voicing what they were all thinking. “How do you defend yourself against something in someone else’s head?”

“We can do this.” Analyn said, and she sounded like she was about halfway to believing it herself. “Just remember, this is for Rich.”

“Yeah, so we can kick his butt later for being so stupid.” Michael grumbled.

“I wouldn’t actually do that.” Matt said. “We don’t know what that thing is really like, or how much of this is actually his fault.”

“Okay, so you’re saying we get an explanation, make a careful analysis about whether butt-kicking is necessary, and  _ then _ follow through.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Yes, Michael. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Sweet.” Michael turned back to face all of them at once. “Okay, so just a quick run through of everything. We can’t count on Rich to want help or be able to help, but we know we need to get the computer out of his head, which we can only do with this soda.” He patted his hoodie pocket. “Nearly everyone in this play probably hates our whole family’s guts due in no small part to those same evil supercomputers, and will be actively trying to stop us from getting anywhere near Rich. Also this might kind of be our only chance because I can’t talk to him anywhere else. Also—” he stopped as he realized everyone was staring at him. “But, uh, hey. We can do it?”

Rachel shook her head in exasperation. “Michael,” she said. “Do you have any plans to be a football coach?”

“Uh, no?”

“Good. You are terrible at pep talks. Let’s go.”


	21. Chapter 21

Rich wasn’t quite sure what was happening much anymore. It was true that without Michael as his friend, Jake immediately took much more of a liking to him. But for some reason it didn’t feel as great as Rich thought it would.

Brooke and her family were very accomodating, and Rich was super grateful for them giving him a place to stay, since he wasn’t sure if the Mells would let him go back home— if it was his home anymore.

Rich found himself making a conscious effort to avoid Jenna. She was starting to seriously creep him out.

For the past week, most of the attention of the people in his friend group was focused on the play, which was now that night. Rich wasn’t sure how much of the reasoning was because they were trying to avoid thinking about Jeremy. He could guess it was a fair amount.

Rich’s knew most of his lines due to the fact that he’d been reading and re-reading _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream _ for years now. His Squip knew the rest of his lines.

The whole day had been a mess, and Rich felt on guard the whole time— from what, he couldn’t say. He almost thought he saw Michael several times in the hallway, which definitely didn’t help. There were also these weird moments where he seemed to space out for an extended period of time. He tried to ask the Squip what was going on, but it denied anything of the sort had happened.

_ Fine, just… don’t let me space out during the play, alright? _

**I can assure you I will not allow such a thing to occur.**

_ Okay. Thanks. _

Rich was backstage before the play started before he knew it, and Christine was out on stage making some kind of big, emotional speech about the play and how it had brought them all together.

When she walked back off and people were getting in place for scene one, she pulled Rich aside.

“Hey,” she said. “Are you alright?”

“Huh?” Rich asked.

“You seem weird and… a little shaky. If you’re not up for this, I’m sure Mr. Reyes would love to do your part.”

“Uh, yeah. A little too much.” Rich muttered to himself. “And are you actually asking me if I want to skip out on Shakespeare? Are _ you _ okay?”

Christine bit her lip. “You’ve just seemed… not normal for a while, Rich. You’re more important than Shakespeare.”

Rich smiled, honestly a little touched. “Aw, I love you too, Christine!”

Christine frowned at Rich and grabbed his shoulders. “Richard Goranski, I am serious. If you’re not up for this, don’t do it.”

Rich smiled a little. “Thanks, Christine. I’m fine, though.”

Christine opened her mouth to say something else, when Jenna called her from the other side of the stage.

Christine sighed. “Okay, hold that thought.” she said, and walked over to join Jenna.

**Jake is about to approach. We’re going to offer him a Squip.**

_ Wait, we’re going to what? _

**Follow my lead.**

“Jake, hey!” Rich called, walking towards him near the back of the room, and making sure to keep his voice down a little so as not to disturb the actors on stage.

Jake glanced over. “Hey.”

“I haven’t seen you since Halloween, you okay?”

“Oh yeah, I’m…” Jake stopped, then sighed. “No, not really. It’s kinda hard to focus on much else right now, other than… well, you know.”

Rich nodded. “Yeah.” he said. “Hey, look, I’ve been thinking about what you said at the party—”

“Look, Rich, not now okay?” Jake said, starting to walk away.

“No, it’s okay, because I think I finally understand!”

Jake stopped and glanced back hesitantly.

“I’ve held myself back a lot because I’ve been thinking about _ my _ best friend.” Rich said, stepping forward. “But I think I’ve finally realized, sometimes you just have to try something on your own, and take a risk. You know, figure out who you are yourself. And I couldn’t have done that on my own.”

“And you’re saying that… I helped you do that?” Jake asked.

_ Um you know actually, I’m not sure about this—_

Suddenly Rich felt the feeling slip from his body. **Quiet, Rich.**

Rich felt himself shake his head. “Not you, this.” He pulled out his Squip. “It’s from Japan.” he said. “It’s a computer, and it tells you what to do. You’d never have to struggle to figure out what to say, or what you feel, ever again. And you’d never have to wonder about who you should be friends with. You’d just know.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Rich, that sounds… _ awful.” _

The Squip suddenly let go of him. Rich blinked. “What?”

“I mean, Jesus, Rich, maybe I have some stuff to work through, but I don’t want a pill to do it for me!”

“No, it’s… not like that.” Rich said, but even he could hear the hesitation in his voice. “It helps you be _ better.” _

Jake looked at Rich, and he seemed confused and almost sad. “Rich, what was wrong with you before?”

“Jake!” a voice hissed from near the stage. It was Christine. “You’re on!”

“I have to go, Rich.” Jake said, and he started to walk away.

“No, wait!” Rich called, but Jake walked out onto the stage and disappeared from sight.

“Shit.” Rich said to himself. “Shit, what did I—”

**It’s okay, Rich.** his Squip said, sounding almost amused. ** I anticipated his resistance.**

_ Then why did you make me say all that stuff? _

**So you would see for yourself what is necessary. Not everyone is as open to change as you were. Offering them all a choice would simply delay the results we desire.**

_ Michael— Michael would never say that. _ Rich realized.

The Squip tipped its head a little. **I’m not Michael.**

_ Shit, did I think that out loud? _

**Rich, calm down.**

_ No! No, Jake’s right. I can’t do this. _ Rich walked over towards the shoebox. _ I have to put these back— _

The shoe box was empty.

Rich turned slowly to the Squip. _ Where— where are the rest of the Squips? _ he asked, surprised by the horror in his voice.

His Squip grinned. It looked like Michael did when he was about to steal the book Rich was reading.** I anticipated your resistance too, Rich. So I took the decision out of your hands.**

“Places for scene two, people!”

Rich yelped and whirled around, but it was just Mr. Reyes. “Remember, once Puck gives you the Pansy Serum, you have to really sell that you’re transforming into a zombie.” He turned towards Chloe. “Excellent work, Miss Valentine.”

“Excellent?” Rich whispered. “Chloe’s terrible. She never remembers her lines, it’s like she’s never even read Shakespeare—” Rich froze. He ran towards Mr. Reyes. “Mr. Reyes?” he called. “What’s in the Pansy Serum?”

“Oh, don’t worry about the color.” Mr. Reyes said. “It’s perfectly non-toxic. We don’t want a repeat of last year’s Arsenic and Old Lace debacle. It’s just plain old Mountain Dew. Also Jenna Rolan put these Wintergreen Tic-Tacs in the bottom.”

_ Jenna. _

“No!” Rich cried. “Mr. Reyes, you have to get rid of that beaker!”

Mr Reyes waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t be silly, it’s more than safe. I should know, I tried it myself.”

Before Rich could say anything his Squip spoke. **Up up down down left right A.**

Rich backed up quickly, then turned towards the stage. “I have to do something!” he started forward when Mr. Reyes grabbed his arm.

“I can’t let you do that, Rich.”

“No, Mr. Reyes, you don’t understand—” Rich started.

“You needy, pathetic, self-centered students!” Mr. Reyes yanked Rich toward him. “You think I wanted to teach high school drama? In New Jersey? My Squip says I can go all the way to Broadway. I just have to make sure you don’t ruin my big night.”

Rich managed to yank his arm from Mr. Reyes grip and danced away. _ What did you do to him? _

**I synced his desires with yours. ** The Squip said, looking smug. ** I now realize that my operating system can only truly be complete when everyone shares a social network. Observe.**

Rich whirled around to see Brooke.

“What angel wakes me from my… my… ugh, this is gonna be a disaster!” Brooke took a breath. “God, I’m thirsty.”

She reached for the beaker.

“Brooke, no!” Rich cried, trying to run towards her, but finding himself unable to move.

Brooke screamed and looked up, grinning almost maliciously. “I warn thee, gentle mortal, it’s time to feed again!”

Rich stumbled back in horror before whirling to his Squip. _ You’re— you’re going to Squip the whole cast! _

Rich’s Squip laughed, sounding way too much like Michael when they beat a video game. **That’s just for starters!** it said in delight.

_ “No! _ I told you, I don’t want this!” Rich barley registered that he’d screamed out loud.

**It is the only way to achieve what you want.** the Squip said, grinning.

_ No! I have to fight back! You’re— you’re just a computer! There has to be a way to turn you off! _

**Oh, I’d stop there. You don’t want to end up like Jeremy, do you?**

“Like Jeremy? What—” Rich froze. “He was screaming about Mountain Dew Red! That must be what deactivates you!”

**Why do you think we had it discontinued?** The Squip said triumphantly. **To get rid of me now, you’d need a time machine to the 1990’s.**

_ Except— Michael has that hookup! The 90s soft drink guy at Spencer’s Gifts! He has to have some! _

**Oh, yes, let’s go talk to Michael.** The Squip was still grinning. **I’m sure he’s more than willing to help you, after you essentially told him you didn’t want anything to do with him.**

Shit. It was absolutely right.

**Indeed, like always.**

“No, I have to—” Rich grabbed for his bag near the back of the room. “Call Michael!”

**It’s useless resisting, Rich! I’m going to improve your life if I have to take over the entire human race to do it!**

“OW! FUCK!”

Rich whirled around, because that was no one nearby. It sounded like—

The door across backstage opened.

“Why would you slam yourself into the door?!” Matt cried.

“I was trying to be _ dramatic, _ Matthew, get off my back!” Michael yelled, rubbing his shoulder.

“You are both morons,” Rachel said, as Analyn moved past them both into the backstage. She noticed Rich a second later, and her face lit up. “Rich!”

“Wha— guys!” Rich cried, wanting to run to them and hug them, but suddenly finding himself unable to move.

“Hey!” Michael called. “We were the audience, and I was thinking, ‘Y’know, this is pretty good for a school play,’ and then Matt was like ‘Dude, this is way too good for a school play.’ They’ve all been squipped, right?”

“Wait, you guys came to see me in the play?!” Rich asked in shock.

Matt grinned. “We even bought our own refreshments!” he called, and gestured to Michael, who reached into his hoodie pocket. He pulled out a bottle of red soda.

Rich stared. “Is that—”

“Mountain Dew Red!” Michael said. “I told you I’ve been doing research!”

“That’s amazing! Thank you thank you thank you! Give it to me!”

Michael started towards him, before someone stepped in front of him.

“Well, look who we have here.” Chloe said. “It’s everyone’s least favorite person!”

“Chloe, I really don’t have time for this—”

**Up up down down left right A.**

Rich’s eyes widened. “Wait, Michael—” he started, but before he could finish, Chloe grabbed Michael and whirled him around, and grabbed the bottle of soda. Matt quickly snatched it from her and started towards Rich as Brooke and Jenna came out of the shadows to grab Analyn and Rachel.

**Kung fu fists activate.**

_ Wait, what? _

Rich felt himself dive for Matt, who cried out in surprise and dodged. “Rich, what are you doing?” he called.

“It’s not me!” Rich called, feeling his eyes well up with tears. “It’s my Squip, I can’t— help me!”

Matt, fortunately, had always been both taller and stronger than Rich, and easily managed to grab him and hold him down, but Rich was moving too much for him to be able to give him the Mountain Dew Red.

A couple seconds later, Christine walked backstage. “What in the world is going on?!” she said, trying to keep her voice down.

“Hey, uh, you!” Matt called. “I know this is gonna sound weird, but can you force Rich to drink this Mountain Dew Red while I hold him down?”

Christine stared, then looked around. “That is hardly the weirdest thing about this situation!” she called.

“Please just do it!” Michael called.

“Okay!”

**Up up down down left right A.**

“Wait, Matt don’t—” Rich started, but Matt handed the bottle over.

Christine started cackling and dumped the bottle out onto the ground.

_ “No!” _ Rich screamed, as Matt yanked them both backwards, holding off Christine with his feet as best he could.

Michael finally got himself free from Chloe, at the same time Analyn did from Brooke. Michael ran over to Rich and Matt while Analyn tried to help Rachel and hold off Brooke at the same time.

“Are you guys okay?” Michael asked, taking over Matt’s job of holding off Christine.

“The bottle!” Matt cried. “There’s still a few drops left!”

As soon as Matt noticed, Christine immediately abandoned them, as well as Brooke, and both of them along with Chloe stood in front of the bottle.

“How are we supposed to get past them?” Michael asked. “There’s three of them, and their Squips are like, boosting their strength or something!”

“Apocalypse of the Damned?” Rich asked hesitantly.

Michael looked down at him in surprise, then grinned. “Got it.” he said. “Hey, Nanay! Can you help me out?”

Analyn turned, and they both moved towards the soda from different sides while pushing away Christine, Chloe, and Brooke in the meantime. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever done!” Analyn cried.

Michael reached the bottle first, but Rich missed what happened, because Matt was suddenly yanked backwards and away from Rich, who came face to face with Jenna, who must have abandoned Rachel.

“Rich, catch!” came Michael’s voice. Rich ignored Jenna, turned, and saw the Mountain Dew Red sailing through the air. Rich reached forward and caught the bottle. A second later, Jenna swiped at him, and Rich dodged before dancing out of the way.

“You shouldn’t drink that, Rich!” called Michael.

“Jesus, Michael, make up your mind!” Rich snapped.

“What?” Michael asked from where he was still struggling with Chloe. “I didn’t say— fuck!” Chloe grabbed him and pulled him towards the ground.

Before Rich could say anything else, his Squip appeared in front of him. **Don’t drink it, Rich! **it called.

Rich narrowed his eyes. “Why not?!” he snapped.

**Because then you’ll never be with him.**

“What—” Rich was cut off by Jake walking backstage.

“Rich? What in the world is going on?” he asked, looking around.

“Uh— I can explain—”

“Wait, before you do!” Jake walked forward and stopped in front of him. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Wait, what? You?”

“Of course!” Jake called. “You were right! This feels amazing!”

“This…?” A second later, Rich realized what he meant. “No! Wait, stop! That— that’s not Jake!” Rich tried to back away.

**Of course it is. ** The Squip said happily, at the same time the real Michael called. “Rich, no!” Rich shook his head to try to clear it. **I’ve simply removed his fears and insecurities. Look, he can even walk without feeling pain.**

Rich looked down in surprise to find out that Jake’s crutches were gone.

“Come on, Rich!” Jake grabbed his hands, but Rich yanked them away. Jake tipped his head in confusion. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

_ No, no, this is all wrong! _

**Rich, relax.**

And as the Squip said it, Rich felt himself relaxing, and everything around him seemed to fade away.

**Look at him. He’ll do whatever you want.**

Rich blinked a couple times. _ Anything? _

**That’s what I promised.**

Rich narrowed his eyes. _ Great. _

He held out the Mountain Dew Red to Jake. “Drink this.” he said.

**Wait, Rich, think about this—**

But Jake had already downed the last drops of the soda.

The whole backstage fell deathly silent, including Michael, Matt, Rachel, and Analyn.

“How do you feel?” Rich asked Jake softly.

Jake blinked a couple times.

And then he started screaming.

A couple seconds later Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, and Christine all started screaming. And a second after that Rich understood why, as a pain worse than he had ever felt rippled through his head.

He grabbed his head as the world around him seemed to vanish. Someone might have grabbed him, but he wasn’t sure— and then everything around him vanished.


	22. Chapter 22

So, seizures got rid of Squips? That was a new one.

Jeremy was pretty sure whatever had happened to him wasn’t actually a seizure, but that was the best explanation the doctors could give. And a couple minutes after they did that Jeremy realized his Squip was somehow, unbelievably, blessedly, gone. And a couple hours after _ that _ happened they wheeled Rich in on a hospital table. So, to be honest, it wasn’t too hard to put the pieces together.

He desperately wished that Rich had been put in a different hospital room though, because Jeremy was getting sick of having to have his curtain pulled across his bed to avoid the entire Mell family on the other side of it.

But another surprise was his _ dad _ stopping by so often. He was wearing _ pants. _ He spent a lot of time apologizing to Jeremy, and saying he was probably partially to blame for Jeremy feeling like he had to try and… he never seemed to be able to say it. Jeremy wished with everything in him that he could correct him, but he doubted his dad would believe him. He promised to try harder to be a good dad. He was showing up to the hospital every day, which was a good start. So Jeremy promised to try harder to be a good son.

And he was apparently fired. It took Jeremy a good ten minutes to remember that he worked at Pinkberry.

A day or so had passed Squip-less before Jeremy’s world that consisted of him and his father was invaded by the other side of the curtain.

Analyn and Rachel.

Jeremy, who had for the moment been alone, had been able to distinctly hear everything said due to not really being able to do much else, especially since the TV was off at the moment. Matt had gone to get lunch, and Analyn and Rachel had both bid him goodbye before the room fell silent. Jeremy figured Analyn and Rachel had left too, but a second later his curtain was pulled back and he was met face to face with both of them.

Jeremy yelped a little in surprise and wished more than anything that he could get up and leave the room.

“Shh,” Rachel gestured over at Michael, who was sleeping in a chair with his head on Rich’s bed.

“What— what do you want?” Jeremy asked, looking away as much as he could while still in his body cast.

“We just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay, _ pulot, _” Analyn said, stepping forward.

Jeremy gave them both a look of disbelief.

Analyn smiled sadly at him, and even Rachel gave him a look that was much more tender than usual for her.

Neither of them said anything for long enough that it was clear they were waiting for some kind of answer from him.

“Why?” Jeremy asked finally.

“Jeremiah William Heere, none of that.” Rachel said.

“What?”

Analyn sighed before walking forward a little more and folding her hands in front of her. “Jeremy,” she said. “We’re not going to pretend we’re not a little angry with you. But if this… Squip thing that you had is anything like Rich’s, I cannot imagine what you’ve been through. And we’re not going to add to that.” She glanced back at Rachel, and they shared a nod. “So,” Analyn continued, looking back at him. “As long as you apologize to both of our boys, you will always be welcome in our household.”

Jeremy blinked quickly before he started crying or something stupid like that. “W-wow,” he stammered. “Um— thank you.” He blinked again and a couple tears slipped out.

Analyn smiled at him again and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. A second after doing so she leaned back and scrunched up her nose. “Wow, you need a bath.”

Jeremy laughed for what felt the first time in too long. “Smell my body cast stench!” he called. “Absorb it!”

Analyn laughed back and Rachel joined her a second later, and the sense of awkwardness that had been almost suffocating faded from the room, and they spent the next half hour talking and joking. At one point Rachel went and got him McDonalds with a comment that he must be sick of all the disgusting hospital food.

And Jeremy thought several times of asking what had happened to Jake after Halloween (his dad wouldn’t tell him, so he knew it was bad), but when it came with the large possibility of ruining this stolen moment of _ before, _ he shut his mouth again and refocused on the joking.

He would ask his dad again tomorrow.

…

It wasn’t super rare for Analyn, Rachel, and Matt to be out of the room, as Analyn and Rachel were adults who had work and Matt had to keep updated with homework from his college.

But Michael had apparently yelled at and threatened enough people (two of them being his parents) that he was excused from school until Rich left the hospital too.

This wouldn’t have been a problem— Jeremy relied on the Curtain of Awkwardness-Prevention— if not for the new nurse hired a day into Rich’s hospital visit. The one who did not pick up on the fact that _ this _ side of the room and _ that _ side of the room _ do not meet. _

The reason Jeremy was now blinking across the room at Michael, who was staring at his phone and stubbornly refusing to _ move the damn curtain back come on Michael! _

But Jeremy had one thing to thank for the curtain being moved, and that was Brooke.

She appeared in the doorway, and Jeremy glanced up when he noticed the movement. Her entire face melted in relief when she saw Rich, and then her gaze shifted up and she saw Jeremy, and her face exploded in joy.

“JEREMY!” she screamed, and Michael jerked up from his phone as she sprinted across the room.

Brooke skidded to a stop in front of the bed before she hugged him, which Jeremy was grateful for, as it would probably hurt.

“Jeremy,” she breathed. “I’m so glad you’re— you weren’t awake before the Play, and then I was recovering from— oh man, you are not going to believe what happened! So—” she stopped.

Jeremy leaned his head forward as much as he could. “Yes?” he asked.

“Shit, I don’t even know if you’re gonna believe this.” Brooke said, running a hand through her hair. “There’s this thing called a Squip—”

“Wait, what?” Jeremy struggled to lean forward more. “No, no, who took one? Was it you? You don’t understand, they’re not—”

“You know what they are?” Brooke asked in shock. “How?”

“Jesus Christ, you two are going to give me a headache,” Michael yelled suddenly from the other side of the room. Both Jeremy and Brooke glanced over in surprise. “No one has a Squip anymore, okay? Rich gave Jake the Mountain Dew Red.”

_ “Jake _ took a Squip?” Jeremy asked in horror.

Michael groaned. _ “No!” _

“Hey, Michael!” Brooke snapped. “Maybe you could try explaining _ all _ of what happened? Communication is key, asshole.”

Michael glared at her. “How wonderfully ironic of you to say.” A second later he paused. “Yeah, that probably not ironic. I’m starting to think nothing actually is.”

“Who cares?” Brooke groaned.

Jeremy was now trying to push his head back into his pillow and block both of them from view. Yeah, it’s not like this was extremely uncomfortable or anything.

Michael sighed. “Okay, fine.” he stood up and walked across the room. “Look, here’s what happened.”

The next fifteen minutes was how Jeremy finally got an explanation. He was filled in on everything that had happened since Halloween, with Jake breaking his legs (which even Michael seemed to understand was sensitive, so he explained it in a soft voice as Brooke squeezed his hand), and Rich likely giving Jenna a Squip, and everyone getting squipped at the play, and finally, Michael, Matt, Analyn, and Rachel all showing up and saving everyone. (Jeremy may or may not have pictured them all in flowing capes doing a hero pose in front of a spotlight shining through the backstage door.)

As Michael finished that, he walked over and sat back down on his phone as Brooke turned back to Jeremy and explained how all of them had been taken to the hospital. She had woken up a day ago and had just been cleared to leave, and was coming to visit Rich after she checked on Chloe, Jake, and Jenna, who had woken up a little later and weren’t cleared yet.

“Okay, now your turn.” she said, softening her voice and scooting her chair closer so they could talk privately. “How long have you have a Squip?”

Jeremy looked down. “Since the summer before sophomore year,” he said quietly.

Brooke gasped. “Jeremy,” she said, and her voice cracked. She leaned forward, and this time she did wrap him in a gentle hug, being careful not to bump or irritate anything. She leaned back and wiped at her eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s not your fault.”

“But it was obvious something was wrong, and I couldn’t—”

“Guess the fact that it was a supercomputer in my head? You’re right, it’s all your fault.”

Brooke laughed a little.

“Is Jake gonna be okay?” Jeremy asked.

Brooke looked down. “Um… he is eventually.”

Jeremy let out a shaky breath.

“It’s okay.” Brooke said instantly.

“It’s not, though.” Jeremy said. “Because now he has broken legs and no house and it’s all my fault.”

Brooke leaned forward and gave him another almost-hug. Neither of them said anything. What could they say? “I love you.” Brooke whispered finally.

“I love you too.” Jeremy replied easily. “You’re amazing.”

Brooke laughed again, but it sounded more sad than anything. “Thank you.” She sat back. “Do you want me to go convince the doctors to let Chloe and Jake and Jenna visit you?”

“Oh my God yes.”

Brooke smiled and stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

Only after Brooke left the room did Jeremy look over and see Michael was gone.

…

Out of the three of them, Jeremy enjoyed his reunion with Chloe the most. She marched into the room and crossed her arms and started what turned into a ten minute lecture of “Do you know how worried I was you asshole I got up at six in the morning with a massive hangover you better appreciate how much I give a shit about you and if you ever scare me like that again you better hope you die because otherwise I’ll kill you and—”

Jeremy laughed in the middle of her lecture which cut Chloe off. She narrowed her eyes. “What the hell is so goddamn funny?”

“God I love you, Chloe,” Jeremy said, grinning at her.

Chloe’s face softened. “Yeah, well. Just don’t do it again.”

“Aw, you love me too!”

“Of course I do.” Chloe said. She pulled up a chair and sat near Jeremy’s bed. “Now let me catch you up on all the homework you missed.”

“Are you trying to torture me?”

“Always.”

Jenna, on the other hand, got straight to the point in a way that made Jeremy want to melt into the floor.

She waited for Michael to leave the room to go to the bathroom, pulled the curtain shut for good measure, and leaned closer. “So did you set that fire or not?” she asked.

Jeremy shut his eyes and leaned a little bit away. “Really, Jenna?” he asked.

Jenna sighed. “Look, I get it. You don’t want to talk about this. But if I’m going to defend your name to people I need to come up with a reasonable cover story.”

“I’m sorry, if you’re going to what?”

“Jeremy, I am sick of having to sit back and let the gossip nightmare that is Middleborough High School rip your name to shreds without having the slightest idea of what really happened. And I’m sick of not knowing what happened. But more than that, I have a lot of influence over the gossip pool, and if I am going to defend your name I need to come up with a cover story close enough to the actual truth that you’re okay with me sharing that also doesn’t involve evil supercomputers. So can you tell me what happened please?”

Jeremy took a deep breath and prepared himself to relive what had happened. Then he told Jenna the whole story of Halloween as quickly as possible. Jenna listened as he did so.

“Okay.” she said. “I think I have an idea. Do you want to know about it?”

“Uh… not really. No. I trust you?”

“Gotcha. Then your job is to sit back and not worry about it.”

The rest of the visit passed much more pleasantly, because after they got the admittedly necessary conversation out of the way, Jenna acted like it had never happened in the first place and did an excellent job keeping his mind off things by sharing a bunch of gossip from their high school about who was sleeping with who. After everything, this could not have been less important to Jeremy, but if he started treating frivolous things like they had real value, maybe he could get some semblance of feeling like an actual teenager again.

Jeremy’s least favorite reunion was with his best friend. Mostly because they couldn’t ignore what had obviously happened when Jake walked in using crutches.

Jeremy looked away as best he could and bit his lip.

“Hey.” Jake said quietly as he sat down with some difficulty.

“Hi.” Jeremy whispered.

Neither of them said anything for what was definitely far too long.

“So Brooke told everyone you had one of those things.” Jake said finally.

“Um. Yeah.” Jeremy looked over at Jake hesitantly. “Are you… okay?”

Jake looked at him in surprise. “You’re asking me?”

“Well, I mean. From the way Mi— the way it was explained to me you were probably kinda freaked out after everything.”

Jake looked hesitantly back over at Rich, who was still asleep on the other bed. “I mean, I have some things about myself that I’ve learned, and now I need to work through some of them, but… I’m more worried about you.”

“I can always punch him for mind controlling you if you want.” Jeremy asked, half glaring over to the other side of the room.

“If I want him to be punched I’ll do it myself.” Jake said, and Jeremy looked back over. “Besides, my memories are pretty fuzzy, but he did seem to be actively resisting the mind control part the whole time. I can’t be super mad at him.”

“Hey, you can if you want to. I’ve mastered the art of being super mad at Rich Goranski when he hasn’t technically done anything wrong.”

“Ha. Stop dodging my question.”

“What question?”

“Jeremy.”

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

_ “Jeremy.” _

Jeremy looked away again. “Well, what do you want, Jake? I’m sorry, okay? There aren’t even words to— I’m _ sorry.” _

“Jeremy, I don’t want an apology. An explanation would be nice, but all I asked right now is if you’re okay.”

“I’m—”

“And if you say you’re fine, I will punch _ you _.”

Jeremy bit his lip and said nothing.

Jake sighed. “Jeremy…”

“You could always ask Jenna for your explanation. I told her.”

“I would prefer to hear it from you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s fine. I can wait.”

Jeremy sighed. “Stop being such an amazing person.”

“Sorry?”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“Hey.” Jake nudged him gently. “Stop it.”

They both sat there in silence for a long moment, and eventually Jake grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. He flipped through the channels before finding an old sitcom Jeremy didn’t recognize and leaving it on that. Neither of them spoke as it played.

The door opened finally, and Jeremy’s dad walked in.

“Hey, champ. I brought my computer so you could watch some shows that you actually enjoy.” He held up the bag on his shoulder as evidence.

Jeremy smiled a little. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Oh, hey, Jake.” he noted a second later as he noticed him. “Thanks for stopping by. I’m sure it can get pretty lonely in here with someone who just sleeps all the time.” He pulled out a chair and sat down next to Jeremy’s bed before taking the bag off his shoulder.

“Dad.”

“What?”

“No problem.” Jake said softly. “I probably should get going. I was finally cleared to leave, and Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, and I are having a study session for all the homework we missed.” He looked over at Jeremy. “Can I come back tomorrow after school?”

Jake smiled in a way that made it very easy to read the statement under his words. _ No matter what, we’re gonna be okay, alright? _

Jeremy smiled a little back. “Yeah.” he said. “That would be great.”

…

Rich Goranski took his sweet time waking up, but in the moment it actually happened, Jeremy was in the middle of staring at him as his thoughts spiraled downwards with guilt, which wasn’t the most fun feeling in the world. But still, he couldn’t help but have a general feeling of crushing regret whenever he thought about Rich. He wanted to somehow make things up to him, but he wasn’t even sure where he would begin with that.

He was thinking it might be best to just give him time and space to himself before approaching him with an apology. Maybe they weren’t at speaking stage yet. Although it would be pretty hard to avoid in a hospital room shared by just the two of them.

His thoughts were then interrupted by Rich waking up.

And Rich waking up was not quiet, which was a problem.

“Ow, fuck.” he grabbed his head and starting shifting around. “Ow, ow, ow.”

“Hey, quit it!” Jeremy called.

Rich glanced over at him in surprise. Jeremy inclined his head towards the person passed out with his head on Rich’s sheets. “Don’t wake him up.”

Rich glanced down at Michael, who shifted a bit as his face scrunched up before falling back asleep.

“What—” Rich started quieter, looking back at Jeremy.

“He’s exhausted.” Jeremy continued. He gave Rich a look of confusion. “Can’t you tell?”

“What— you—”

“He stayed up way too late helping you, didn’t he?” Jeremy asked.

Rich’s blinked as his brain seemed to catch up with what was happening, and where he was. “How did you know?” he asked, finally in the appropriate softer tone.

Jeremy smiled a little. “Because he’s Michael.” he said softly. “When he cares about someone he— well.” He coughed a little. “Really cares. A lot.”

“He— he doesn’t—” Rich started, and bit his lip.

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Doesn’t care about you? Don’t be stupid.”

Rich flinched and looked away.

Jeremy blinked at the reaction before pausing and looking at Rich. Shoulders tense, looking away, head ducked down. “Oh.” he realized. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to… did it call you stupid a lot?”

Rich looked over. “What?”

“Your Squip.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“That’s okay. Don’t rush yourself. I won’t call you that anymore.” Jeremy smiled at him a little. “Do you feel weird too?”

“Weird about what?”

“I felt like a piece of me was suddenly missing.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “Wait, your Squip is gone? How?”

Jeremy nodded towards Michael. “Ask him. He’s the one who explained the whole thing to me.”

“Mikey?” Rich asked.

Jeremy couldn’t help but flinch again at the nickname, but before he could dwell on it, Michael shifted and sat up, stretching.

“Mikey!” Rich called, sounding much more relieved.

Michael jerked over to look at Rich. “Rich? Oh my God!” Michael dove for the bed and pulled Rich to him. “Don’t ever scare me like that ever again, you— are you okay? Are you dying?” Michael grabbed either side of Rich’s face and turned it back and forth as if examining it. “The doctor said you wouldn’t die, but uh— she didn’t know what really happened and I just— Jesus, you scared me so much!” Michael pulled Rich into a hug again.

“Sorry.” Rich said into Michael’s shoulder, as his face was scrunched into it too much to really talk properly.

Jeremy managed to maneuver his arm and yank the curtain shut.


	23. Chapter 23

Brooke had been long awaiting this day. It had been far too long to wait, but it also happened to be just long enough that Brooke had learned along with Jenna how to bake a cake. Don’t judge them, okay?

After nearly a month of agonizing waiting, Jeremy was finally, _ finally _ getting cleared to leave the hospital.

The date was being memorialized with an accompaniment from Jake, obviously, Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, and surprisingly, Rich, who hadn’t talked to Jeremy since he left the hospital, despite Brooke asking if he wanted to come a couple times. She could understand if he needed a little space.

They were all in the waiting room with the aforementioned cake, the one baked by Brooke and Jenna, and with a little help from Rich. He had actually been the one to mention that they should probably remember not to use any candles.

“So is there a reason you wanted to be here?” Brooke asked Rich. She was sitting with Jenna, him, and the cake in a bunch of chairs while Jake and Chloe were trying to get information out of the poor man at the front desk again about when Jeremy was going to be coming. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, you totally can,” Brooke continued to Rich. “I’m just a little confused, because while you had the Squip you didn’t seem very sympathetic to Jeremy.”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Rich muttered. “I just thought I’d give him a chance. You all seem to really like him, and I kinda want to hear his side of the story… you know, as long as he’s willing to tell me. I mean, we were like, almost friends once.”

“Oh yeah, back in the beginning of sophomore year.” Jenna said. “I almost forgot about that.”

“That’s really cool of you, Rich,” Beooke said, nudging him a little bit with her shoulder.

Rich smiled at her and nudged back.

The two of them had gotten really close over the past month, which was kind of bound to happen since Rich was living with her. Brooke had also spent the time getting to know who Rich really was. She may or may not be a little overprotective now?

Jenna was the one who pointed out Rich’s living arrangements being different then they used to be, and how maybe that was a problem. Brooke was trying to figure out how to bring it up.

She glanced over at Jenna on the other side of her, who gestured a little. Brooke was about to say something (she still wasn’t sure what), when suddenly Jake and Chloe started cheering.

The three of them glanced up to see Jeremy walking around the corner, followed by his father. He stared at them in surprise. “Guys?”

“Hey!” Brooke called, standing, and grabbing the cake along with Jenna. “We have come to commemorate this momentous occasion!”

“Uh…”

“I taught her how to say all of those words.” Rich said smugly.

Brooke used her free arm to smack Rich. “No you didn’t, shut up.”

Rich laughed.

Jeremy smiled a little, but he still looked a little self-conscious. It took Brooke a couple seconds to figure out why, until she noticed the scars running up and down all the skin she could see.

Luckily for Jeremy, Jake was about the most oblivious person on the planet and ignored them entirely, walking up and throwing an arm around Jeremy’s shoulder. “We brought you a cake!” he called, gesturing to it. Brooke and Jenna raised it a little higher.

Jeremy smiled more. “And we’re going to eat it here?” He looked around the hospital lobby.

“No, we figured we’d take it back to Brooke’s house.” Jenna said. “As long as that’s good with you, Mr. Heere?”

Mr. Heere waved them off. “Go have fun. I’ll see you at home for dinner, Jeremy.”

Jeremy practically beamed at his dad. “Yeah, see you Dad.” he said, giving him a hug before following the rest of them out the door towards Brooke, who had borrowed her mom’s car and was driving them all back to her house.

The rest of the afternoon was mostly full of laughing and cake, until Jeremy and Brooke ended up at her dining room table while everyone else was playing video games in the living room.

“So hey,” Brooke said. “How are you doing?”

Jeremy smiled at her. “Much better than I expected to be. At least today.”

Brooke smiled back at him. “You seem really happy with your dad.”

“He’s trying really hard. And I’m grateful. I don’t know, it just seems like things can only go up, you know? And… they are.”

“I’m so glad.” Brooke said, reaching over and hugging him. Jeremy hugged back.

“How are you?” he asked a second later. “If you need to talk about Squips and what happened, or just anything really, I’m here.”

“Thanks. I actually don’t remember it too well, so I’m mostly doing okay. And Rich is a total joy to have around the house. It’s been super fun to get to know him. The real him.”

“Around the house?” Jeremy asked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, um, Rich started living here a while ago.” Brooke explained, rubbing the back of her neck.

“I thought he lived with Michael.”

“He did. He asked if he could stay with me on Halloween. I thought getting him away from Michael was a good thing, so I basically played right into the Squips fucking hands. I feel so stupid.”

“Do not. I’ve done that too many times to count. Uh… played into their hands I mean, not get Rich away from Michael.” he paused. “Although, I guess I gave him the Squip, so I mean…” Jeremy shook himself a little. “Squips are really good at manipulation. I can’t really think of any people who wouldn’t fall for it, and you had good intentions.”

“Michael didn’t fall for it.”

Jeremy laughed a little. “Fair point.” He seemed to realize something. “Wait, but Rich is still living here?”

Brooke nodded. “Yeah.”

“Have he and Michael, like, talked since the hospital?” Jeremy asked, now looking concerned.

“I don’t think so.” Brooke said just as worriedly.

“That’s probably not good.”

“Definitely not. I’m trying to figure out how to suggest to Rich to talk to him. I think he’s just guilty, but… putting off talking to him isn’t going to help.”

“You’re right, it’s not.” Jeremy sighed. “I would talk to him, but… uhh…”

“You don’t want to get involved in Rich and Michael.”

“Absolutely not my place.”

“I get that.” Brooke said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to talk to him.”

A loud burst of screaming came from the other room.

“What are they playing?” Jeremy asked, starting to grin.

“A game Rich brought with him. I think it’s called ‘Apocalypse of the Damned.’”

Everyone screamed again.

Jeremy laughed. “That sounds fun. Hey, I got next game!” he called, heading towards the living room. Brooke followed him a second later.

…

“Hey, Rich?” Brooke pushed open the door to the bedroom Rich used. “Can I talk to you about something?”

Rich glanced up from the book he was nose deep in. “Sure.”

Brooke walked slowly into the room. Rich picked up on the fact that this was going to be a serious conversation, and set his book down. “Okay, what is it?” he asked in a more cautious tone.

“Rich,” Brooke said. “You know me and my family adore you. So please don’t take this as me kicking you out.”

Rich looked like he knew where this was going.

“But have you considered, maybe moving back in with the Mells?”

Rich sighed and looked away. “I want to,” he said quietly. “You have no idea how much I miss them. I just. I can’t.”

“Why not?” Brooke moved forward and sat on the bed.

“I don’t want to see them mad at me.” Rich whispered.

“They may not be mad at you.”

Rich shook his head. “They’re definitely mad at me. You don’t understand, I promised Michael I wouldn’t abandon him. And then I— just fucking did.”

“Rich, he… Michael was at the hospital every single day. He practically never left your side. I seriously doubt he’s mad at you.”

“But he could be.”

“Well then…” Brooke hesitated. “I doubt… avoiding him like you’ve been is helping. It’s been what, two weeks?”

Rich flinched. “Three.” he said quietly. He sighed. “Matt’s telling me to talk to him too.” He gestured at his phone on his night stand. “Michael and also Analyn and Rachel.”

“I think Matt’s right.”

Rich sighed again and fell back on the bed. “I can’t.”

“Rich.” Brooke looked down at him. “Please. I hate seeing you miss them so much. And I’m sure they miss you too.”

Rich shook his head. “They definitely don’t.”

Brooke leaned down and pulled Rich into a hug. “Stop it. Rich, I promise they care about you.”

Rich shook his head again.

Dammit, how was she supposed to convince him otherwise? She was sure Michael missed him too. She’d been doing a lot of reevaluating lately on her opinion of Michael— mostly after Jeremy asked them all to. Micahel _ had _ to miss Rich too, right? But how did she get Rich to talk to him?

Oh, well. Time to play dirty.

“Well, even if you only talk to him one more time,” Brooke said. “Don’t you think he deserves an apology?”

Rich flinched.

Yep. Playing dirty. Didn’t feel great, to be honest.

“Okay.” Rich said. “Okay, fine. Just. Give me a couple days.”

Brooke pulled Rich into one more hug. “You got it.”


	24. Chapter 24

Today was just not going to be good, was it? This was obvious from the moment the demon known as the educational system dragged Michael’s overdramatic ass from the silky heaven known as his bed.

They were out of coffee. Michael may or may not have fallen asleep after he parked the car at school and therefore was late for his first class. Rich was sitting with Jenna in the one class they had together before lunch which just rubbed his absence in Michael’s face even more.

He’d thought things would be better again after the Squips were gone, but somehow he’d lost Rich too. He could tell that his moms missed him too, despite all of them pointedly ignoring his empty seat at the table at dinner.

“Mr. Mell. Are you paying attention?”

Michael glanced over at Mr. Davidson and mumbled something that sounded vaguely like ‘sorry’ before pulling off his headphones. Mr. Davidson walked over and stood above Michael’s desk a second later and held out his hand. Somehow managing to contain his contempt, Michael handed them over.

“You can come get them at the end of the day.” Mr. Davidson said.

After that interaction, Michael napped for the rest of the class out of spite. When the bell rang, however, his headphones were sitting on his desk. Mr. Davidson clearly hadn’t done it, because he was eyeing them like he was about to walk over and take them again. Michael walked out before Mr. Davidson could say anything to him about it.

Lunch began with Michael leaving, like usual, to go get lunch from 7/11. There was one close enough to the school that he could get there and back in five minutes.

He took a deep breath as he walked in. 7/11 had a weird ability to calm him down. He walked over to the slushie machine and got his cup to get his cherry slushie, but it made a spitting sound when he tried to pour some.

“Sorry,” a nearby employee said, who was restocking chips. “We’re out of cherry.”

“Of course you are.” Michael grumbled, turning to the obviously far less superior blue raspberry. He grabbed that and enough sushi to fill him up for a couple hours and headed over to the cash register, paid and left.

When he got back to school he headed for the lunch room and the first thing he saw was Rich and Brooke talking at the popular kids table. Brooke noticed him and pointed at him, and then went back to whispering. Oh, they were talking about him. Awesome. Rich turned around and looked at him, then shook his head back at Brooke. Michael wanted to scream.

He stomped over to his usual table and sat down as loudly as possible, then buried his head in his arms.

Every time he thought about Rich living with Brooke he thought about how much Brooke hated him. Did that mean Rich hated him now too? It’s not like he thought Brooke was “turning Rich against him” or something, Rich was his own person who could decide on his own opinions about people, and if Brooke was honestly trying to do that, Rich was smart enough to see through it. Mostly the problem was— well, okay. Mostly the problem was that Michael missed him.

In his class after lunch the person he was supposed to be working on the group project with was home sick, and Michael was starting to think that guy’s immune system had the right idea. He spent most of the class trying to do any amount of work, but that was also the class where there was a group of people who had nothing better to do than bring up more theories about why Jeremy burned down Jake’s house. And that topic was sensitive for obvious reasons. Every time they brought it up Michael got mad at them, and then he got mad at _ himself _ because he was supposed to be done caring about Jeremy, so why should he care if people talked shit about him?

When the bell finally rang for that class Michael went and put his stuff in his locker and started towards the side door out of the school. He could use it to cut around to the parking lot and go home, because today had been enough and he wasn’t sure he could sit through his last few classes. The hallway emptied out as he headed for the door, and Michael let out a breath. He was almost out of here.

Unfortunately, fate then decided it was going to drop one more thing on his head that day.

Michael had noticed Jeremy in the hall that morning, but hadn’t reacted much to it aside from acknowledging in his own head that oh, he must have finally gotten well enough to leave the hospital. The burn scars on his arms stood out like an anvil in a haystack, but Michael did his best to ignore them. It was probably sensitive to Jeremy too, and probably about the last thing he wanted was for someone to bring them up.

And then Michael got a first-person account of what they felt like when Jeremy bumped into him as he was leaving. (Raised skin and weirdly warm, if you must know.)

“Sorry,” Jeremy mumbled and ducked further away.

Suddenly, something in Michael that had been building up snapped. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?!” he snapped, whirling around.

Jeremy turned in surprise, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “Wh-what?”

“You’re sorry? For _ what?” _

“Um— I— I bumped into you, so I— I said sorry?” Jeremy started backing away.

“Oh, and out of everything, that’s what you choose to apologize for?”

“What?”

“How about sorry for everything else?! You could try that first!”

“What—”

“Is that all you can say? Well you know _ what, _ Jeremy? Maybe it didn’t occur to you that I want some _ space! _ That _ I don’t want to deal with you!” _

Jeremy stared at Michael in fear for a couple more seconds before he turned and bolted.

Michael buried his face in his hands and screamed into them. He turned and slammed the door open and started walking in the opposite direction of his car. He made a full lap around the school before he ended up standing outside his car with his head in his hands again.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Michael looked up to see Jenna standing there, putting her phone in a purse. “What are you doing out here?”

“Having a crisis of conscience.”

Jenna raised her eyebrows. “Well you do not undersell it, huh?”

Michael sighed and turned around to lean back against the car. “I just snapped at Jeremy. And I think I maybe crossed a line.”

Jenna stepped forward slowly and stopped in front of him. “Okay, well… you do have some right to be mad at him. What did you say?”

“I told him I wanted some space.”

“That’s not so bad—”

“After I screamed at him about apologizing and followed by saying I didn’t want to deal with him.”

“…Oh.” She was silent for a while before gesturing to the car. “You want to get inside instead of standing out in the cold?”

Michael nodded, and they both climbed inside.

Jenna looked over at him hesitantly. “So…”

Michael sighed and leaned back against the seat. “I know, I know, it was shitty. I just— today has been awful and I snapped and I took it out on him.”

“Okay, well, it sounds like the communication did, um, leave something to be desired. But you have every right to ask Jeremy to give you space. You should apologize for snapping at him, though.”

Michael sighed. “Yeah, I will.”

“No, I mean now, Michael.”

Michael glanced over at Jenna. “Why now?”

“Because you have a much bigger effect on Jeremy than you think you do.”

“What? No way, it’s been more than a year. I’m sure my opinion doesn’t matter to him _ that _ much anymore.”

Jenna laughed, but it sounded much too bitter and sad to really count as one. “You give him way too much credit.”

Michael blinked at her. “I…” He paused to consider what she’d said for a second. “Okay, I get what you’re saying, I just…” he sighed again. “Jenna, I really don’t want to talk to him right now.”

Jenna bit her lip. “So you’re prioritizing yourself over him.”

Michael winced. “Yeah, you’re right, that’s really selfish.”

“Hey, it’s okay to be selfish sometimes.” Jenna said. “If you really don’t want to talk to Jeremy, you don’t have to, just know that… he’s gonna keep thinking about what you said.”

Michael looked down guiltily. He turned and looked out the window at the empty parking lot, and neither of them said anything for a minute.

“I hate being alone.” Michael muttered. The feeling had encompassed his whole day. It was probably why he had snapped in the first place.

“Y’know, that’s pretty hypocritical considering you just said you don’t want to deal with Jeremy.”

Michael glanced over at Jenna in surprise.

“He’s my friend first, I’m taking his side in the end.”

Michael laughed a little. “I know it’s hypocritical, to be honest, I just… you have no idea. I’m so sick of being alone all the time.”

“Michael, of course I know what that’s like.”

Michael blinked at her. “Really?”

Jenna nodded. “For most of my life people saw me as the gossip girl. I only first got friends…” she trailed off. “Because of Jeremy.”

“Because of Jeremy?” Michael asked in surprise.

“He’s a really good person, Michael.”

“I know.”

Jenna smiled and nodded. “Right. Of course you do. He… he really brought everyone together. I’m sure you saw. He was the first person I ever felt really cared about me for me.” She turned back to Michael. “But my point is that I absolutely know how you feel. I… if you want, we could be friends.”

Michael raised his eyebrows skeptically. “I thought the whole group of popular kids hated me.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was more the Squips fault than anything else. Indirectly, but still.”

“God, I just love those things so much.”

“Here here.” Jenna grinned. “But seriously,” she held out a fist. “Friends?”

Michael grinned back and bumped it. “Friends.”

“Awesome.” They both sat in the car for another minute before Jenna turned to Michael again. “And you know,” she said. “Maybe you don’t want to talk to Jeremy, but there’s someone else who I’m pretty sure misses you a whole lot.”

“Rich? Yeah, I’m really getting that from the way he and Brooke whisper amount me together while also avoiding me like I have the plague.”

“I mean it, Michael. I don’t think you really understand what having one of those things is like.”

“You do?” Michael asked curiously.

Jenna shrugged. “A little. I know they can get in your heads, make you think things that aren’t true. That might be some of what’s going on with Rich. But honestly, the best person to ask would probably be…” she trailed off.

“Jeremy.” Michael said quietly. He sighed, and neither of them said anything for another minute.

After a while Michael turned to Jenna, because if he was really going to try this whole friend thing again, he was going all in. “Do you want to come on a quest with me?” he asked.

Jenna smiled mischievously. “What are we questing for?”

“A 7/11 that’s not out of cherry slushie.”

Jenna grinned at him and sat up taller. “We shall venture forth, brave hero.”

“We will not stop until our quest is complete, brave heroine.” Michael said, putting his hands on his hips.

“Onward!” Jenna called, pointing out the windshield.

Michael started the car and backed out of the spot he was parked in, and headed towards the exit from the school. And yeah, maybe all his problems weren’t solved. He still felt really lonely, and pretty guilty about snapping at Jeremy. The whole future still felt very uncertain, and not in a good way. Rich maybe needed more saving than he originally thought.

But goddamn it, there was a quest to complete. And he was going on it with a new friend. And they were getting cherry slushies.


	25. Chapter 25

Brooke seemed to be mad at Michael again. Something about finding Jeremy under the bleachers having a breakdown. Which Rich felt bad about, of course. But he was getting sick of everyone hating Michael. Mostly because he knew a little bit of actually _ communicating _ would clear everything up. Most likely.

That was a little hypocritical of him considering he was refusing to be the one to start that communication, but it would probably be better started by someone Michael actually cared enough about to listen to. Which wasn’t him, duh. I mean, come on, Brooke. She was right about one thing, though. Michael deserved an apology. Like, a colossal apology. One that Rich was going to have ready before trying to give. He didn’t want to screw anything up more than he already had.

He still felt bad for Jeremy. He didn’t know the circumstances for what had happened with Michael, at least not from Michael’s point of view, but Brooke had given him a full-on angry rant about what happened with Jeremy that night after dinner. She’d apparently found him under the bleachers half scared out of his mind, and had needed almost an hour of conversation to calm him down. This rant had been followed by a look of horror and a realization that it wasn’t her place to tell Rich that. Rich had reassured her it was okay and he wouldn’t tell anyone else.

“Just please keep in mind you only know half the story,” Rich said.

Brooke reluctantly agreed.

Rich was considering, as its own little way of preparing for Michael’s colossal apology, a different apology, to someone he owed one to, just not as much. That someone in particular being Jenna Rolan.

“So I should probably do it in a place where we’re alone,” Rich said from where he was pacing in front of Brooke’s bed. “And start with like, some kind of comforting gesture? Or something. I’m not sure if she’s like, scared of me, which would be totally valid considering everything. Maybe I should bring a gift. Do you think I should bring a gift?” He turned to face Brooke as he finished his last sentence.

Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes. “I think you’re gifting yourself a lot of unnecessary anxiety.” she said.

Rich tipped his head. “What?”

“Sorry, that was dumb. I was trying something.” Brooke folded her hands. “I doubt Jenna’s even mad at you. Just walk up to her and ask if you can talk. I guarantee the whole situation will be cleared up in ten minutes.”

Rich bit his lip. “Really?”

“Yes.” Brooke replied, looking very confident she was right. “And by the way.” She leaned forward a little. “The same goes for Michael.”

Rich rolled her eyes. “Sure, in ten minutes.”

“Well, maybe the conversation will take a little longer. But one conversation will still clear everything up.”

“Uh-huh.”

Brooke held up her hands. “Alright, don’t believe me. But this whole apology is still mainly practice for Michael.”

“Well, maybe.” Rich looked down. “But Jenna deserves an apology too. I kind of took over her brain.”

“Well…” Brooke said slowly, highlighting how clearly uncomfortable both of them were. “That’s fair.”

Rich spent another half hour or so going over his plan for this apology, until Brooke dragged him away and shoved a copy of Pride and Prejudice in his hands and told him to read it.

“I’ve read Pride and Prejudice already.”

“Then read it to me.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Brooke nodded. “We’ll start a book club. I want to know why you love Jane Austen so much.”

Rich all but beamed at Brooke before happily opening the book and starting. “‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.’” He set the book down and beamed at Brooke again. “Isn’t that such a great opening line?!”

“Uh… sure…” Brooke said, clearly having no idea what it meant.

Rich opened it again and pointed at the words. “Look, it’s saying that everyone kind of collectively thinks that if a guy is single and rich he wants a wife.”

“Oh.” Brooke said. “Okay, keep going.”

Rich nodded. “‘However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.’” He looked up at Brooke again.

“Uh…”

Rich raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to read this? I won’t be offended if you don’t.”

“No, hang on, let me try.” Brooke grabbed the book. “Um… ‘however little known…’ so whether anyone knows what the guy is like or not, all the families are sure he’ll want to marry one of their daughters.”

“Yes, you got it!” Rich called.

“Alright, cool.” Brooke rubbed her hands together before she picked up the book again. “I hope you’re ready, Rich, we’re gonna be reading this thing ‘till dinner.”

“I have never been ready for anything more.”

…

Rich’s plan to apologize to Jenna the following morning was interrupted by the opposite happening. Not Jenna, but someone else apparently thought they needed to apologize. The someone being Chloe Valentine, who approached Rich at his locker before school started and asked if they could talk.

Rich followed her into an empty classroom, where Chloe sat on a desk and folded her hands. “Look, I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Rich blinked in surprise. “What? Why?”

“Because of everything that happened with Jeremy.” Chloe started fidgeting with the strap on her purse.

“Chloe, that wasn’t your fault.” Rich said, stepping forward.

“I know.” Chloe looked up. “But I’ve kind of been on a self-improvement thing lately, and I wanted to start by apologizing to everyone. And, I mean, I never actually told Jeremy to stop. I just kind of dragged him away from you when I could, and always used some excuse of why I needed to talk to him.”

“I’m not sure telling him to stop would have done much good. He still had a Squip.” Rich pointed out.

“Well, I still should have tried, so. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Rich said, smiling a little. “But thank you. You know Brooke apologized for something similar actually. Point is, I appreciate it.”

“Yeah…” Chloe looked a little uncomfortable. “I’m not actually super used to doing that.” she admitted. “Felt kinda weird.”

Rich laughed a little. “You’ll get used to it.” He looked down and fidgeted with his fingers. “Lord knows I’m going to have to.”

“You referring to Michael?”

Rich sat down on the desk next to Chloe. “Yeah.”

“Just, um, to clarify. Michael was not an asshole to you, right?”

Rich shook his head. “Nope.”

Chloe nodded. “Cool. I’m glad. I mean, now I have to apologize to him too, and I don’t even know where the fuck I’m gonna start with that.”

“Hey, neither do I!” Rich held up his fist. “Here’s to being hopelessly bad at apologies!”

Chloe laughed and bumped his fist with her own, and after that both of them sat there for the remainder of first period talking about nothing in particular, since neither of them wanted to go to their class.

…

Rich had intended to try to apologize to Jenna during lunch, but that was also interrupted by a different apology. This time, one Rich had sort of been expecting.

“Hey, um, Rich.” Jeremy hadn’t gotten his lunch yet, and Rich was about to before he slowly turned to face him. “Can I talk to you? It’s like, totally cool if the answer is no, um—”

“Yeah.” Rich cut him off. “Sure.”

Jeremy blinked and they both stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds. “Cool.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them said anything again.

“Uh, hey. I know a place where we can talk alone.” Jeremy said suddenly.

“Okay.”

“I mean, unless you don’t want to be alone with me, which again, totally makes sense—”

“It’s fine.”

“Okay.”

Rich decided he wanted to be anywhere else in the universe right now.

“So, um. Follow me.”

“Yep.”

Jeremy ended up taking them out the back doors and up towards the football fields, and underneath the bleachers.

“I’ve found this is a really good Place for Emotional Conversations. Uh, capital P, C, and E.”

“Sure.”

“You know, like ‘place for emotional conversations’ versus ‘Place for Emotional Conversations—’”

“Yeah, no, I get it. Emphasis.”

“Right, you’re a writer, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” Rich looked down at some of the rocks by his feet.

“I think we apologize too much.” Jeremy said. “We say ‘sorry’ for like, everything. ‘Oh, I burned your toast. Sorry.’ ‘Oops, I was too loud. Sorry.’ ‘Uh-oh, I interrupted you. Sorry.’ Like, the other day I bumped into Michael, and, um. And so if we actually have something to apologize for, ‘sorry’ doesn’t seem like enough, but we don’t really have any other things to say instead.”

“Yeah.” Rich looked up. “The English language can be really limited.”

“I’m just… I’m starting with this so you know I really, really mean it when I say I am _ so _ sorry.”

Rich nodded. “Okay.”

“I was jealous and miserable, and like an absolute asshole, I took all of that out on you. Which is so far from okay. It’s not even in the same universe as okay. And I doubt I’ll ever stop feeling bad about it. Even after we both had Squips I still treated you like…” Jeremy shook his head.

“I mean, I wasn’t super nice to you when we both had Squips either,” Rich muttered.

“Well, sure, but that was warranted.”

Rich couldn’t really argue there. “What do you mean you were jealous?” he asked instead. “Why were you jealous of me?”

Jeremy stared at him. “Rich, you had Michael.” he said.

Rich stared back. “But you were the one who—” he stopped. “Oh. _Oh. _ It _ was _ the Squips, wasn’t it?”

“What are you talking about?”

Rich looked up at Jeremy. “I get it now.” He walked over and leaned back against a beam. “You said it called me stupid a lot. It did. You meant it was, like, a reinforced thing.”

“What are you talking about?” Jeremy asked again.

“I’m going to give you the same advice you gave me and tell you not to rush yourself.” Rich said quietly, looking back at Jeremy. “And I think I’m gonna go talk to Michael soon. Like, tomorrow.”

Jeremy sighed. “Finally.” he said, and walked over to join Rich by leaning on a different side of the beam.

They were both quiet for a while, but instead of earlier, where it felt unbearably awkward, now it felt more comfortable.

“You know, I don’t know if there’s ever a way I could possibly make this up to you,” Jeremy said. “But—”

“I need—” Rich cut him off before stopping abruptly himself. “I need— someone to— talk to. About everything.”

“Of course.” Jeremy said quietly.

“And I want you to know right now I mean that both ways.” Rich turned so he was facing Jeremy more. Jeremy turned to face him back. “And if you don’t mind… I’d like to try to get to know you? The real you. Michael has spoken highly of you before.”

Jeremy looked down in the way that meant he didn’t believe Rich. Rich had meant what he said before, and wasn’t going to try to rush him. Right now he was just going to stay here with Jeremy until the end of lunch, and maybe later explore the new understanding that they shared between them.

…

It was after school that Rich finally got his chance to talk to Jenna. He decided, after seeing the hallway was almost entirely empty already, to abandon all forms of attempted illusion and just jump right in.

“I wanted to apologize.” he said as he approached her locker.

Jenna shut it and turned to him. “What?”

“I wanted to apologize to you for tricking you into taking a Squip like that. I’m really sorry. That wasn’t okay.”

Jenna bit her lip and turned to lean back against the locker. “Yeah, it was scary.” she admitted. “It felt like there was a thing in my head completely blocking all thoughts it deemed inappropriate.”

“I sort of get that.” Rich said. “There were a couple times it like, forced me to relax. Mine was mainly more long-term, though. There were a lot of electric shocks.”

“Wow. I’m sorry.” Jenna said. “One of those times you said it forced you to relax… that was when you were giving me one, right?”

“Um, yeah?” Rich said, looking down.

“Then it’s okay.” Jenna said, and Rich glanced back up at her. “It wasn’t entirely your fault.”

“It was a little.”

“Yeah. But you were being manipulated in multiple ways too, and I can’t really hold it against you. Besides, I proactively got even with you.”

“Wait, what? What did you do?”

“I told Jake you have a crush on him.” Jenna said before turning and casually walking away.

Rich blinked after her a couple seconds before what she said processed. _ “You did what?!” _


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for discussion of suicidal thoughts. Really just discussion of a lot of emotional and mental issues.

“Godammit, Jenna. This is all your fault.” Jake muttered to himself. “I never would have noticed Rich if you hadn’t dragged him into my line of sight by telling me he had a crush on me.” He gently banged his head onto the wall behind his bed again.

Jeremy had been over to his new hotel room he was staying in many times, and had apologized the first six or so times he showed up before Jake reassured him that he actually preferred it to his house. At least he didn’t have a ton of space to wander around while thinking about how fucking screwed he was. Which was probably good, as it would likely have messed with his newly healed but still fragile legs if he wasn’t forced to stay on his bed while thinking about his new hopeless crush.

Yeah, he had finally stopped ignoring how much he _ really _ didn’t hate the thought of dating Rich. How adorable Rich was wasn’t helping. If Jake had a dime for every time his heart melted when Rich lit up talking about books, he… well, he’d have enough money to rebuild his house.

That didn’t mean anything had changed. There was still Jeremy. He still couldn’t date Rich. Realizing how much he wanted to was just making everything worse, to be honest. He would ask Jenna for advice if he wasn’t still slightly irritated with her for being the reason he was in this mess in the first place.

That didn’t mean there wasn’t something else he needed to say to Jeremy. Something that was equally taboo.

“Okay, it’s not like Jeremy is homophobic.” Jake said.

“He’s not.” Brooke replied, shutting her locker. “He accepted me immediately when I came out to him.”

“Okay, yes, but… not publicly?” Jake said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Like, he sort of only seems to be okay with stuff like that if it has to do with people he already knows and cares about. And he’s made plenty of homophobic jokes.”

“Well… yeah,” Brooke admitted, fidgeting with her lunchbox.

“You know what, maybe it’s not even a problem!” Jake called. “I’m not going to be dating Rich, so of course Jeremy doesn’t have to support anything publicly! I don’t even have to come out to him! I can just, you know, only date women for the rest of my life.” Jake nodded awkwardly to himself. “Yeah. That’s a reasonable solution.”

Brooke raised an eyebrow. “No, Jake, that’s suppressing part of your sexuality, which is actually what you were doing before.”

Jake sighed. “Yeah, I know. I guess I’m just really nervous.”

“Well hey, you know you are a person Jeremy already knows and cares about, so by your own logic, he won’t mind this. Also…” Brooke glanced hesitantly to the side. “I’m wondering how much of that was his Squip.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Oh. Shit. You’re probably right.” He sighed. “But that’s gonna make it worse. I don’t know how to bring that up to him. I… I’m sure you’ve noticed things have been, um, kind of awkward between us.”

“Yeah…” Brooke said slowly. “You’re gonna have to talk about some stuff eventually, you know.”

Jake nodded. “I know. I’m just trying to let him take the lead with that conversation.”

“That’s probably smart.” Brooke said. She smiled a little. “Hey, you know… if you want to know some stuff about Jeremy’s lifelong stance on the LGBT community, I think I know someone you could ask—”

“Nope.” Jake cut her off before immediately walking away and ending the conversation by heading towards the lunchroom. He heard Brooke’s sigh of exasperation before she followed him.

Jake sat down at the table next to Jeremy, who nowadays brought leftovers from his dinner the night before for his lunch, and it seemed to make him really happy to eat things made by his dad, even if he had told Jake before that honestly he wasn’t the greatest cook. Today he had a plastic container of spaghetti and meatballs.

Brooke sat on the opposite side of the table in between Chloe and Rich, the latter of them immediately grabbing Brooke’s arm and talking to her in a quiet enough voice that Jake couldn’t make it out.

Jake looked over at Jeremy’s spaghetti again, which looked infinitely better than the school lunch he had planned to buy today.

“You want some?” Jeremy asked.

Jake glanced up at him. “Actually, that would be great.”

Jeremy ‘hmm’ed curiously. “Too bad.” he said, and shoved a meatball in his mouth.

Jake blinked in surprise before he processed what had just happened. He let out a short laugh. “You know what, fuck you,” he said, shoving Jeremy a little bit.

Jeremy gave a mock gasp. “Why Jake, all you had to do was _ ask.” _ he said, pressing a hand to his chest.

Jake looked at Jeremy in a little more surprise. “What?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit with us?” asked a voice loudly.

Jake looked up to see that what had cut him off was Jenna… walking towards the table with Michael Mell.

“Nah, uh… I’m good.” Michael said, as they both stopped a couple feet away. “But I’ll see you after school?”

“Totally. Meet you out front.” Jenna said. They both fistbumped and Michael walked in a different direction as Jenna walked over and sat down next to Jeremy.

She looked up to see everyone staring at her. “Yes?” she asked in a tone of voice that clearly meant they should not have a problem with what just happened.

“Uh… since when are you friends with Michael?” Jake asked slowly.

“Couple days now. He’s a cool person.” Jenna said. “So what’s going on?”

Jake glanced over to see Jeremy looking incredibly tense, which is around the time Jake’s protective best friend instincts kicked in.

“Hey, Jeremy, remember you promised to help me with that project?” he asked.

Jeremy glanced over at him. “Huh?”

_ “The one for my science class?” _ Jake stressed.

Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Shit, I did! Isn’t that due tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I just realized too! We gotta go guys, catch you later!” Jake dragged Jeremy up and away from the table, abandoning his lunch that they could come back and grab later.

They both went outside after the hallway was a couple people too full. Jake let Jeremy take the lead then, and he led them both to sit on the football bleachers, which was cold, but at least away from people.

“Thank you.” Jeremy said quietly.

“Always.” Jake replied. “Uh… did you tense up because of Michael, or because of the joke?”

Jeremy glanced over at him in confusion. “What joke?”

“Oh, you made that joke about me saying ‘Fuck you,’ you just… you’ve asked me not to do that stuff in public before, so I was thinking maybe you just got uncomfortable, or…”

Jeremy’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oh. Shit. Dude. Jake, that was… I don’t give a shit about stuff like that.”

Jake looked at him. “You don’t?”

“No, of course not! That was, like, a boundary my Squip set. It spouted some absolute bullshit about homosexual behavior getting in the way of being popular.”

“Really?” Jake asked. “So— so you wouldn’t like, care if, maybe… I wasn’t straight?”

Jeremy looked him dead in the eyes. “Absolutely not.”

Jake grinned in relief. “Cool. Cool. Because I’m, like, super pan. So.”

Jeremy pulled Jake into a side hug. “That’s awesome.” he said. “I am so, so sorry you felt like you couldn’t tell me.”

“No, it’s… it’s good.” Jake said. “It wasn’t necessarily your fault.”

Jeremy grumbled something.

“What?”

“I said I’m sick of this!” Jermey shoved Jake away and stood up before starting to pace back and forth, causing a loud _ clang, clang, clang _ from where his feet hit the bleachers. “I feel like you think you can’t talk to me! I’m sick of that and I’m sick of feeling guilty all the time and I’m sick of all the awkwardness. I—” He stopped and sat down again a little ways from Jake. “I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

“Jeremy.” Jake moved closer to him. “You are never going to lose me. Understand? Ever.”

Jeremy sniffed and wiped at his eyes. Jake ignored it. They were silent for a moment.

“I want to talk about it.” Jeremy said suddenly.

“Huh?”

“All of it. Right now. I want you to ask me every single uncomfortable, concerning, and awkward question you can think of, and I will answer every single one, and then maybe we can finally put this Squip _ shit _ behind us and just try to be regular best friends.”

Jake stared at him for a minute. “Are you sure?”

“Positive. Hit me. Whatcha got?”

Jake hesitated. “Okay, well,” he said. “Can we start with Halloween?”

Jeremy winced before clenching his jaw. “Yep. Do you want me to just explain what happened?”

Jake nodded slowly.

“Okay, so, my Squip and I had an argument about— about Michael.” Jeremy said. “Because you all were saying you though his and Rich’s friendship was unhealthy, and my Squip actually told me it would be unhealthy when pigs fly, and I wanted to tell you guys that but it wouldn’t let me. Then it did this thing it did a lot—” Jeremy tensed and shut his eyes. “Basically it would insult me until I was miserable enough to listen and do whatever it said.”

Jake leaned closer to Jeremy and pulled him into another side hug, trying not to let the horror and concern he felt show.

Jeremy didn’t move away, but he was still tense as he went on. “So then it left and I had a breakdown. I went to the bathroom and washed my face, and spent most of the rest of the night by the bar in case the Squip would let me drink anything, because uh, alcohol makes it go away for a bit. But it didn’t. Until this guy was being super creepy around Chloe, so I kinda used the fact that I was friends with you to get him to leave— uh, sorry.”

“No issues here.”

“Yeah, thanks. But then, since Chloe was super drunk she shoved her flask in my mouth and then I drank the rest to keep the Squip away and that was when I started running around asking for Mountain Dew Red. But I wasn’t—” Jeremy took a shaky breath. Jake hugged him tighter. “I wasn’t fast enough so the Squip— it made me— um—” Jeremy started taking staggering breaths, and grabbed Jake’s arm and squeezed it tightly.

“Breathe, Jeremy,” Jake said. “Take a deep breath. You can stop if you want to.”

Jeremy took a couple more choked breaths before shaking his head. “The Squip,” he got out, “made me find some matches, and—”

Jeremy dissolved into heaving breaths again.

“Jeremy, stop, it’s okay!” Jake said, turning so he could hug Jeremy from the front and rub his back. It took a couple minutes for Jeremy’s breathing to calm down, partially due to the fact that Jake wasn’t sure how else to help him other than hold him close and whisper “It’s okay” over and over as Jeremy repeated “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry.”

“Jeremy, it’s okay.” Jake said when Jeremy seemed to finally be calmer. “We don’t have to talk about everything right now.”

“No, I meant it, I want to,” Jeremy said, pushing himself off of Jake.

“Well then let’s talk about something else. That topic is clearly too much for you. Besides, I think I get it. It’s okay, I wasn’t even mad at you in the first place, and it sounds like it was in no way your fault.”

“I was okay with dying.” Jeremy leaned forward and put his head on Jake’s shoulder. “That night. I was okay with it. I told my Squip I would do it myself if that’s what it wanted. I just didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Jake felt like he could start crying. “And what did it say?” he asked quietly.

“It said the point wasn’t death. The point was a punishment.”

Jake sat back a little and Jeremy turned his gaze to the bleachers under them. “What does that mean?”

Jeremy sighed. “It’s awful.”

“I figured.”

Jeremy looked hesitantly up at Jake. “I think it knew you would save me,” he said. “I think it knew I wasn’t going to die. And I think it also knew that if it wasn’t shut off I would be too terrified to try and get rid of it again.”

Jake wiped at his eyes before the tears that had been building up there escaped and hugged Jeremy again. He didn’t know what in the world he could possibly say to that, so he waited for Jeremy to say something else.

Jeremy, after another few minutes leaned back again. “Okay. What else?”

Jake narrowed his eyes in concern. “Jeremy—”

“I told you I meant it. I want to talk about everything. Ask me another question.”

Jake bit his lip and tried to think of a simpler question to give Jeremy a little more time to get his breath back. “When did you get your Squip?”

“July in the summer before sophomore year. Just before we met. The day my mom left. It was supposed to tell me how to win her love back later on, but I guess… that’s not going to happen anymore.”

“So… how much of our early friendship was the Squip telling you what to say?” Jake said hesitantly.

“Almost none of it.” Jeremy answered immediately. “The Squip was much easier on me for the first half year or so I had it. It only really first started controlling my friendship with you after it got me to give up on Michael.”

“Do you think you can handle telling me what happened with that?” Jake asked softly. “Because I doubt Michael actually told you anything himself.”

Jeremy shook his head. “I never even talked to him.” he said. “The Squip told me that Michael replaced me with Rich. Which I mean, I guess it was right about.”

“Woah, hey. That’s dangerous territory, Jeremy.” Jake said. “You don’t know that for sure, right?”

“Why else would he yell at me like he did?” Jeremy asked. “You didn’t hear how angry he was. He sounded like he hated me.” Jeremy sniffed and wiped at his eyes. “How am I supposed to get him to stop hating me?”

“I don’t—” Jake cut himself off with a sigh, and shivered as a cold wind blew through the bleachers. “Do you want to go get food? We kind of missed lunch, and we’re definitely not going back inside after this. It’ll be warmer in a car.”

Jeremy laughed a little. “Our whole group needs to stop skipping school.”

“We’re recovering from something traumatic. If the school won’t cut us some slack, we’ll do it ourselves.”

“Yes, food.”

“Great.”

They were walking towards the parking lot when Jeremy asked, “You have been cleared to drive, right?”

Jake nodded. “They told me I shouldn’t do it too much, but all I’ve been doing recently is driving to and from school. I should be fine.”

“If you’re sure.” Jeremy said, and they both changed direction towards Jake’s car.

“What do you want?” Jake asked as they climbed in.

Jeremy seemed to think for a minute. “How do you feel about 7/11 slushies?” he asked.

“Uh, I don’t know. I don’t have them that often. Bring your own cup day is kinda fun. You want one?”

“Mmm-hmm. If it’s good with you.”

“You got it.” Jake said, pulling towards the exit of the school. “Do you know how to get to one from here?”

“Yeah. Take a left.”

Jake followed Jeremy’s instructions for about ten minutes and then they arrived. Jeremy led them both inside and seemed to know exactly what he was doing. He got himself a blue raspberry and after looking at Jake for a long moment, got him a pina colada. Jake was a little skeptical, but had to admit after trying it that it was absolutely delicious.

Jeremy paid for both of them at the counter as well as some candy and chips and they both headed back out to Jake’s car.

“Okay.” Jeremy said, as Jake started driving again, this time in no particular direction. “Do you have more, or are you done?”

“I have more, as long as you’re still okay to keep going?”

“Go for it.”

“So what happened with Rich? You two seemed to be okay up until everything with Michael happened, and then you suddenly started bullying him for no reason. I mean— no reason other than everything with Michael.”

Jeremy sighed. “That was… mostly my fault. I was hurting, and it turned into anger, and I took it out on Rich. Just once, really, but then my Squip wouldn’t let me stop once I’d started.”

Jake wanted to point out how that didn’t make it mostly his fault, but in the end he let it go.

“So once he took a Squip, he was pretty pissed at me, and I couldn’t blame him, really. We’ve talked it out, I think. I’m not saying I think we’re all good now, but we’re better than before.” Jeremy looked at Jake curiously. “Have you two talked at all?”

“Not really.” Jake replied. “Like I said already, I’m not super mad at him, but I think he might feel pretty guilty for what happened.”

“I get that. I can’t even tell you what I’d do if it was me.”

“Jenna said he has a crush on me.” Jake said suddenly, because hey, if Jeremy’s reaction to him being pan was anything to go by, maybe…

“Uh, yeah.” Jeremy said, cutting off his thoughts. “Duh.”

Jake swerved the car a little in shock.

“Jesus, Jake!” Jeremy called.

“You already _ knew?” _

“Uh. Yeah.” Jeremy said. Jake kept his eyes on the road this time, so he didn’t see Jeremy’s expression. “Jake, you don’t need a supercomputer to tell that he has some serious heart eyes for you. Unless I’m, like, super wrong, the whole reason he took the Squip was to get a chance to date you.”

Jake nearly swerved the car into another lane again. “Are— are you _ serious?” _

Jeremy nodded. “Again— duh?”

Jake had to take a minute before he said anything else, honestly feeling flattered. Someone as amazing and (he would admit) adorable as Rich had taken a Squip just to try and date him? Gah, but he still couldn’t do that!

He needed to get his mind off of that now. “Uh, so. What are you really like?” he asked abruptly.

He saw Jeremy look at him out of the corner of his eye. “What?”

“Sorry, that was phrased, like, really badly. I kinda meant, like, are there any things about you that I don’t know? Just, like, stuff the Squip has kept from me.”

“Oh, um. Are you sure you want to hear that? I’m not super… cool.”

“Bullshit. I call bullshit.”

Jeremy laughed a little awkwardly. “There’s a reason everyone knew me as Michael Mell’s best friend, man. I like video games, and—” he waved his drink. “7/11 slushies, and Star Wars. Oh, space. Space is cool.”

“Space is super cool.” Jake agreed, because for once he actually knew a little bit about this topic. “You know black holes suck up all the light around them?”

“Yes!” Jeremy called happily. “They can suck up entire stars! You know there’s a star called— well, it’s super boring, it’s called S0-2, but it’s orbiting a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way called Sagittarius A? Isn’t that _ awesome?!” _

“Super awesome.” Jake agreed, smiling to himself. Jeremy then went on for a while about Sagittarius A and S0-2, and Jake didn’t understand most of it, but he let him keep going, because he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Jeremy so excited before.

Eventually Jeremy seemed to realize he was still going, and slowed down. “Uh, sorry.” he mumbled, sounding embarrassed. “I kinda took off, didn’t I?”

“No apologies necessary.”

“Can you still ask me your next question so we can move on?”

Jake bit his lip, because his next question was probably going to be a little uncomfortable. But Jeremy had reiterated several times that he wanted to do this.

“What do you think,” Jake said slowly. “That I think about you?”

Jeremy said nothing for a moment. “You want an honest answer.” he said. It was more a statement than a question, but Jake still nodded.

“I honestly know that most of this is probably my brain being stupid.” Jeremy said. “So let me start with that. But… I’m really scared you’re mad at me and just won’t admit it. And that you’ll like me better with my Squip than without. And… then you’ll leave. Because everyone does, eventually.”

Jake pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it in park. He turned to face Jeremy. “I’m going to tell you what I think about you, okay? And can you trust I mean it?”

Jeremy nodded.

“First of all, you’re my best friend and I love you. I do not blame you at all for anything that happened with my house. Hell, Jeremy, I don’t even miss the place. I hated it and it felt lonely all the time. You knew that, right?”

Jeremy nodded.

“I care about you for who you are. We just established that you’re different without your Squip, but as long as you’re _ happier, _ I don’t give a single fuck.”

Jeremy blinked fast a couple times. He wiped at his eyes once, but Jake ignored it.

“And I will never leave you. I swear. No matter what. I’m…” Jake took a breath, but the least he could do was share some emotional honesty in this conversation too. “I’m honestly more scared that if you and Michael ever become friends again, you’ll be the one who leaves me.”

Jeremy looked seriously at Jake. “Can you trust me when I say that won’t happen?”

Jake took a deep breath. “I can try.” He winced. “I’m sorry if that sounds hypocritical. You just said you trust me.”

“It’s okay. Brains are stupid.”

Jake laughed a little. “Really stupid.” he agreed. He paused. “I have two more.”

“Shoot.”

“What is the whole deal with the Squip and the LGBTQ community?” he asked. “Like, you said it set some kind of boundary, but how did that work?”

“Oh. Well, the Squip said I could either be accepting for Brooke, or uh.” Jeremy laughed a little. “Or get to make gay jokes with you. So I uh, chose the one that actually affected someone’s life directly.”

“Reasonable.” Jake said, nodding.

Jeremy laughed again. “It said something like,” Jeremy cleared his throat and raised his voice to a higher tone. _ “‘Homosexual behavior is a barrier in current society and an obstacle towards being more chill.’” _

“Uh. What.”

“Right?”

“No, what was that voice?”

“Oh, I was, uh, imitating my Squip?”

“Your Squip sounded like a super uptight female?”

“Sounded like— my Squip looked like my mom.”

Jake stared at Jeremy. “It _ what?!” _

Jeremy suddenly looked really uncomfortable. “It looked like Mom.”

“I thought the Squip was supposed to be a voice in your head?”

“Yeah, but they have, like, a sort of physical form too.” Jeremy looked confused. “It was kind of like a hologram… didn’t yours look like something?”

“Dude, I’m telling you, I can barely remember the play at all. The fact that Squips exist was like, the main thing I got from that. Jenna told everyone else it was ecstasy.”

“Oh, _ that’s _ what she said.”

“You had an abusive voice in your head that insulted you and also looked and sounded like your _ mother?” _

“I mean…” Jeremy finished the sentence in a mumble.

“What?” Jake asked gently.

Jeremy picked up his slushie and took a long drink before setting it down again. “It’s not like Mom acted super different in real life.” he said a little louder.

Jake’s eyes widened, trying to wrap his head around that. Yeah he’d known logically that Jeremy hadn’t had a great mother since she left and his dad was such a wreck. He hadn’t had a fantastic relationship with his own parents, but they had _ never _ intentionally abused him, and… and what else could Jeremy mean?

Jake grabbed Jeremy and pulled him into a hug across the middle of the car. He felt like he’d hugged Jeremy about six times already during this conversation, and he definitely wasn’t done. Jake had thought before that maybe Jeremy just needed a chance to talk through some stuff and he’d be okay, but he’d been through way too much.

“Jeremy…” he said slowly as they pulled away. “You need to talk to someone, man.”

“I’m talking to you.”

“I mean a professional. You need someone to talk to about everything because you… you just do.”

“Yeah, that’ll work out great. Hey, I had this supercomputer in my head that fucked me up. Can we talk about it?”

“Then we’ll come up with something. But seriously.”

Jeremy looked away. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll go with you if you want.”

“I don’t think you need a therapist. You seem like you’re more than capable of working through your stuff on your own.”

“Maybe, but like, don’t they say that plenty of mentally healthy people go to therapy?”

Jeremy looked back over, seeming a little surprised and curious. “Who says that?”

“Tumblr.”

“Quite the reliable source of information.”

“That’s fair.”

“It’s expensive.”

“It’s worth it if you need it.”

Jeremy looked away again and leaned on the window. “I guess I’ll consider asking my dad.”

“Please do. Strongly.”

“You have one more question?”

“What can I do to help you?”

Jeremy smiled a little and leaned across the car until his head was resting on Jake’s shoulder. “You’re doing a fantastic job. Just be there for me, and be willing to listen. And willing to talk. About anything _ either _ of us are going through.” He hesitated a little. “And maybe remind me you care about me every now and then?”

Jake nodded and gave Jeremy one last side hug. “You’ve got it.”

Neither of them said anything for a minute.

“Okay, actually,” Jake said. “I have one more question.”

Jeremy looked up at Jake in mock hurt. “You lied to me.”

“Forgive me! I am so sorry!”

Jeremy sniffed. “I don’t know if I can. It might be a long road.”

“Jeremy, no!”

Jeremy leaned forward and pretended to sob into his hands. He continued for about five seconds before moving back over to his own seat and stretching. “What is it?”

“So since we’ve recently discussed your love of space, and we’re not going back to school, how do you feel about streaming a bunch of space documentaries for the rest of the day?”

Jeremy stared at Jake with stars in his eyes which was remarkably fitting given the subject. “For real?”

“Yeah. As long as you’re down.”

Jeremy nodded, still staring at Jake with something akin to awe.

“Uh… are you okay?” Jake asked, only half-joking.

“How are you so amazing?”

Jake laughed. “Years of practice. I bought a book called ‘How To Be the Best Friend Ever’ when I was a kid.”

“It paid off, because you are the best.”

“Just how I roll, babe. To the internet for illegal screening!”

”Hell yeah, the internet!”


	27. Chapter 27

So, Michael may or may not love Jenna with all of his heart and soul. She was hilarious and witty, and fit remarkably well with his own sense of humor, not to mention she was entirely okay with drinking 7/11 slushies and binging documentaries from the discovery channel, which was about the hugest plus Michael had ever found in a friend.

Jenna often came over to his house, or he went to hers, as she was currently his only friend apart from Matt, and she seemed to get that Michael got very lonely very easily, especially lately.

Currently they were both in his basement, Jenna leaned back against the wall his bed was pushed against as Michael was sitting on the edge and nearly falling off, and they were talking about nothing in particular.

“Okay. But like. Why the hot pockets though?” Jenna asked.

“Hey, I can get where Mr. Reyes is coming from on this.” Michael said. “They taste decent and they’re easy to make. They’re like another brand of college food.”

“Oh, well then of course _ you _ like them.”

“Hey, I take offense to that.”

Jenna snorted and sat up a little bit. “Why?”

“Because. You said in a tone.”

“Just a tone?”

“Yes.”

“No tone in particular.”

“I don’t like tones.”

Jenna laughed.

“But, Jenna. You know what your hot pocket thing reminds me of?” Michael pushed himself up a bit, closer to the middle of the bed.

“What?”

“Well, usually when I wake up I get on my phone to like, wake up a bit. And sometimes I like download photos of random shit that I don’t really remember downloading because I’m half awake, and then I look at them later and it’s kind of like seeing them for the first time because I don’t really remember seeing them that morning very well.”

Jenna stared at him. “And hot pockets remind you of that how, exactly?”

“Well, because yesterday I was looking at some pictures of hot pockets in order to—”

“Michael!” came Analyn’s voice from the top of the steps. “Someone is here to talk to you!”

Michael glanced in confusion at Jenna, who shrugged.

“Me?” Michael called back. “Are you sure?”

Before Analyn could reply, someone started walking down the steps, and Michael was faced with an incredibly anxious looking Rich. He was biting his lip to the point where Michael was worried it would start bleeding.

“Wow!” Jenna said suddenly, jumping up from the bed. “Would you believe it, I am suddenly so hungry! I’m gonna go pester your moms for food, Michael, I’ll be back in a year or so.”

Michael sighed. “Thanks, Jenna,” he said, half-annoyed.

Jenna walked upstairs, leaving Michael to lean back on the bed a little, sit in the silence, and wait for Rich to make the first move.

Rich didn’t say anything at first. Michael, despite a large part of him wanting to snap at Rich to get on with it if he was here to apologize, stayed silent. He tried to remember what Jenna had said about the stuff Squips did. Yelling at Rich would probably do about as much good as yelling at Jeremy had done.

It wasn’t until Rich shifted something around in his arms that Michael realized he was holding something. On closer inspection, it was a book. Rich glanced down at it when he saw Michael noticed it, then sighed. He hesitated for another second and then walked across the room and handed it to Michael.

It was his favorite copy of _ A Midsummer Night’s Dream. _

Michael looked back up at Rich in confusion.

“I told you I wouldn’t abandon you.” Rich said quietly. “I swore it on that book. So, um. There you go.”

Michael set the book aside on the bed. “Rich…”

“Jeremy said he thinks we apologize too much. I think he’s right, because I’ve been trying since I left the hospital to come up with some kind of speech that expresses how sorry I am— because I am so _ incredibly _ sorry. But I couldn’t— I couldn’t come up with anything. At all.”

“I would rather you have tried to come up with something while we were still hanging out than avoiding me again, Rich.” Michael said quietly.

Rich flinched. “Sorry.” he whispered.

Michael sighed. The room fell silent. Michael searched for a minute for the perfect thing to say to dispel the tension. In the end he went for an obvious and true fact. “I missed your lisp.”

Rich smiled a little but didn’t say anything.

“Do you think maybe,” Michael started hesitantly. “You could try to explain?”

Rich fidgeted with his hands a little and nodded. Michael gestured for him to sit down on the bed, and Rich did so slowly, as if scared the bed was going to break.

Rich didn’t say anything for another minute. “I don’t know where to start.” he whispered. “What do you want to know?”

“Just… I don’t know, Rich. Start with what happened after you left, I guess? I mean after Halloween.”

“I love Brooke’s parents.” Rich said instantly. “And Brooke. They’re so kind and they were really accommodating. They said I was welcome back anytime, and they also want to meet you, by the way, and your moms, and Matt. They’re so great.”

“Well, I’m glad they weren’t assholes.” Michael said. “But, no offense, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Absolutely nothing. I’m stalling.”

“Okay, um… why?”

Rich bit his lip again. “My Squip,” he said, and he squeezed his hands into fists. “Uh, it told me I was stupid. Like, a lot.”

Michael tried to push away the sudden cold hard anger that formed in his chest. “Okay, so that’s bullshit,” he said. “What’s your point?”

“No, that’s not—” Rich looked away. “My point is that I thought— like, it told me that so I would trust it more, because if I thought my ideas and opinions were stupid and that it knew better than me, then I would listen to it over myself.”

“Okay,” Michael said slowly. “But that doesn’t matter, because you didn’t believe it, right?”

Rich said nothing. He kept looking away.

“Rich?” Michael asked. “Right?”

“It also told me you didn’t care about me. You and your moms. You asked what happened after Halloween? It told me that you guys didn’t care enough to warrant calling to tell you I was okay.”

The whole morning after Halloween flashed in Michael’s head. All of the panic and horror and confusion. The relief when he found out Rich was alright.

“But that doesn’t matter,” he said. “Because you didn’t believe it. Right?”

“You yelled at me on Halloween,” Rich said. “You ask how I was being so stupid. Remember?”

“Okay, but I admitted that was a little harsh. We call each other stupid all the time, Rich. We’re just teasing each other. That’s what brothers do. Why would that time stand out to you? I don’t understand.”

“There’s a thing I heard somewhere about repetition. You hear something over and over and you start to believe it.” Rich said. He still wasn’t looking at him. “Mine called me stupid, over and over. And usually when I tried to push back against that or anything else, it would, um, shock me. Like an electric shock. It hurt.”

“Rich,” Michael said. He stopped. He wasn’t sure what else to say. He wanted to reach out and hug Rich, but from how tense his shoulders looked, that probably wasn’t a good idea.

“You know Squips can look like things?” Rich continued, jolting Michael out of his thoughts. “Like, it can project a form in your head that you can see.”

“Okay, so?” Michael whispered.

“You know mine looked like you?”

Michael leaned away from Rich because _ woah, hold up, slow the fuck down. _

That’s not… there are so many things wrong with… how was he supposed to… but that… that’s so not… that is _ not _…

Rich would have heard _ his voice _ telling him he was stupid. Telling him he didn’t care. That their moms didn’t care. Telling him probably a million other things that Rich hadn’t told him yet.

That was so… not…

“I think I might scream.” Michael said dazedly, leaning backwards until he laid down on the bed.

Rich turned to look back at him. “Mikey?”

“I might… I don’t know what to say to that.”

Rich didn’t move from where he was sitting. “I kinda worked that out when Jeremy told me he thinks— um.” Rich stopped. “Sorry. Not my place. What I mean to say is I kinda see where the manipulation happened now. You know, more or less.”

“Yeah.” Michael said, sitting up and looking Rich dead in the eyes. “That’s cause you’re the smartest person I know.”

Rich looked away and sniffed a second later. “That doesn’t mean some of it doesn’t still feel true,” he whispered.

Now Michael leaned up and hugged Rich. He grabbed him and pulled him close and squeezed him until maybe Rich should have told him to back off a little because he needed to breathe, but Rich was hugging Michael just as tightly. Michael was pretty sure both of them were crying. He was absolutely sure when they both finally pulled away to see the other crying.

“I missed you so much,” Rich whispered.

“Not as much as I missed you,” Michael shot back, because it felt natural, and he had decided somewhere in that crying session that he was going to start reminding Rich how much he cared about him.

Michael reached for the book on the bed next to him and passed it back to Rich. “I’m not accepting this,” he said.

“What— but Michael—”

“I’m not accepting this because I don’t think you leaving me was entirely your fault.”

Rich took the book slowly, as if he was afraid Michael would snatch it back. But once he had it he hugged it to his chest like a lifeline.

“I hope you’ll move back home, Rich.” Michael said. “Everyone misses you.”

“I’m sorry,” Rich said again. He shook his head like he wasn’t sure what else to say. “I just want things to go back to normal.” he whispered.

Michael didn’t say anything for a minute, though he wanted that too.

They were both silent for another half a minute or so.

“You know,” Michael said suddenly, out of nowhere. “I think it’s possible that the definition everyone uses for situational irony is the actual definition.”

Rich turned to Michael, wrinkling his nose. “What?”

“No really, I’ve been thinking about this lately. You know how ‘ain’t’ didn’t used to be a word until everyone started using it and then it actually made its way into the dictionary?”

Rich nodded in confusion.

“Maybe situational irony is the same kind of thing. Maybe enough people define it as ‘an unexpected situation’ that its actual definition has become obsolete.”

Rich stared at Michael with wide eyes. “You just used the word obsolete. _ Correctly.” _

“So you admit I have a point!”

“Yeah.” Rich said in amazement. “Yeah, you have a point.”

“Does that mean you also admit that ‘Isn’t It Ironic’ by Alanis Morissette is actually ironic?”

“NO!” Rich lept from the bed and backed away from Michael, pointing a certain undignified finger in his direction. “NO NO NO! TEN THOUSAND SPOONS WHEN ALL YOU NEED IS A KNIFE WILL _ NEVER _ BE IRONIC!”

“ADMIT IT!” Michael called, leaping from the bed himself and beginning to chase Rich around the room.

“NEVER!”

“ADMIT IT ADMIT IT ADMIT IT!”

“I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL!”

This went on for another ten seconds or so before the opening of the basement door cut them off.

Rich turned toward it and promptly fell on his face, followed quickly by Michael tripping on him and landing on top of him. This was followed by both of their groans of pain.

Jenna sighed and shook her head. “You are both so ridiculous.” she said. “By the way, your moms say I can stay for dinner, since Rachel is really talking up Analyn’s cooking. You guys good with that?”

“Yeah.” Rich said as he wriggled out from under Michael. “What’s she making?”


	28. Chapter 28

“Hey, Jeremy. Can I ask you a favor?”

Jeremy turned to see Jake half-jogging towards him. It was the end of the school day, and Jeremy wanted nothing more than to crawl home to bed, but he could guess from Jake’s tone of voice that whatever favor he needed was going to take a bit.

Jeremy sighed. “Anything for you, babe. Just be careful. You don’t want to cause a tornado with how fast you’re running.” Jeremy said, slinging his bag over his shoulder as he headed for the doors.

“I’m not allowed to run full speed yet, asshole.”

“I am. Wanna race?”

“Shut up.”

“Hey, I _ care _ about my legs. I wasn’t the one who ‘ran full speed’ into a burning kitchen.”

“No, you’re just the one who burned the kitchen down.”

Jeremy waved his hand dismissively. “Ah, technicalities. What’s the favor?”

“I was going to help Christine take down the last of the stuff from A Midsummer Nightmare With Zombies, but we’ll probably need more than just the two of us, so I was wondering if you could help.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem. But who’s Christine?”

Jake turned to stare at him, and Jeremy glanced over. “What?”

“Christine? The girl I was dating for a solid two months?”

Jeremy bit his lip and thought back. “Wait…” he looked down in thought, then back up at Jake. “I thought her name was Catherine.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. “You seriously don’t remember the name of the girl I was dating most of the beginning of this year? I broke up with her on Halloween? You came to play rehearsal, as like, moral support?”

“Shit, that was…” Jeremy looked away again and started to think back to a time Jake had told him about any of that. “Her name really wasn’t Catherine?”

“Dude.”

“Sorry, I just… Jake, I don’t… I don’t really remember much of earlier this year at all. Most of my energy went into being scared of my Squip. I was kind of spacing out, like, a lot.”

Jake’s eyes widened in understanding and concern. “You were that scared of it?” he said softly.

Jeremy nodded. “I mean, yeah. It was terrifying. I’m just glad it’s gone.” They both walked in silence for a few seconds. “Sorry I forgot your ex’s name.” Jeremy said.

“It’s alright.” Jake said. He sounded genuine. “Just don’t call her Catherine, okay?”

“Yep. Christine. Gotcha.” Jeremy looked over at Jake curiously. “So, I guess you two are on good terms? Since you don’t seem to be hurt, and are now willing to help her with stuff.”

“I mean… I may or may not be bringing you in part to dispel any awkward tension, but I think we’re okay. And this is kind of a way to make anything up to her, y’know?”

“You might want to clarify that to her.”

“Got it.”

The theatre seemed to be empty when they entered, but it looked like a little bit of the set was already taken down, so Christine must have already been there.

Jeremy grabbed Jake’s bag and walked over to the back row of seats. He leaned down and set both of their bags on chairs.

“Jake, hey!” came a vaguely familiar voice as Jeremy stood up again. He turned towards the stage to see someone walking through a side door in front of the seats, carrying a trash bag that seemed about half full. That must have been Christine.

Well, fuck.

“She’s gorgeous.” Jeremy said.

“What’d you say?”

Jeremy whirled around to see Jake much closer than he remembered. “Nothing!” he blurted. “Hi, Christine!” he turned back to the stage, which was a mistake, because Christine turned her beaming smile to him.

“Hi Jeremy! Thanks so much for helping!”

“Hey, anything for you!” Jeremy called, and immediately looked away as his face turned bright red. _ “Fuck.” _ he hissed.

“Okay, so,” Christine called, and Jeremy somehow managed to look at her again. “There’s obviously a lot to get. Jake, if you could start on the hospital over there, and Jeremy, if you could help me drag… um, actually, could you and Jake drag the wall backstage and I’ll start on the hospital?”

“Yeah, sure.” Jake said. “Jeremy, come use those big strong muscles of yours to help me out.”

“You got it, babe.” Jeremy followed Jake as they headed for the wall, both of them picking up a side and Jeremy making sure to take on more of the weight as they carried it backstage and set it down.

When they headed back out Christine was still taking apart the hospital. “Jeremy, could you grab the beds?” she called.

Jeremy walked over and grabbed the two cardboard beds in lieu of a response and headed for backstage again. They weren’t very heavy since they were made of cardboard, but they were big and awkward and he probably couldn’t have gotten another one.

“Hey, Jake could you get the tower?” Christine asked as she moved a little further back to start putting the parts from the field in a pile.

Jeremy let go of the beds and turned back around. “I’m not sure how much heavy lifting Jake should be doing, Christine.” he said.

“I’m fine.” Jake said.

“No, you need to take it easy. Can he take over for you, Christine, and you can carry the tower? You know, on second thought I should probably help you. That thing is huge.”

“Um… y-yeah, sure, that’s fine.”

“Cool.” Jeremy continued dragging the beds off as Christine headed over to the tower to wait and Jake walked over to the props for the field.

Jeremy headed back out to the tower and grabbed one end of it. “Okay, lift on three?”

Christine nodded.

“One, two, _ three.”_ They both hoisted the tower up with a little difficulty and started towards backstage. But as they got about halfway there Jeremy looked back over to see Christine had suddenly gone pale.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked.

Christine opened her mouth to say something only for a squeak to come out and Christine to drop her half of the tower.

Jeremy cried out in surprise and nearly dropped his half on his foot before managing to set it down. “Jesus, Christine, that could have broken my foot!” he called.

“Sorry!” Christine screamed, much too loud.

Jeremy glanced up to see her backing towards the front of the stage.

“Christine!” Jake called, abandoning his own props to run for Christine. He caught her as she nearly walked backwards straight off the stage.

Jeremy walked closer as Jake lowered Christine to the ground, who was starting to hyperventilate.

“Christine! Christine, what’s wrong?” Jake asked.

“I can’t—” Christine took an enormous breath and let it out too fast. Her breaths started to pick up. “I can’t—”

“Woah, hey, Christine.” Jeremy knelt down, making sure he didn’t touch Christine, as he wasn’t sure if that would help or not. “You need to breathe, okay? Take a deep breath.”

“I can’t, I can’t—”

“Yes you can.” Jeremy said. “We’ll do it with you. Just breathe when I do, okay?” He glanced at Jake for a half second, who nodded. Jeremy took a big, exaggerated breath, and Jake did his best to mirror him as Christine did the same. It took a couple tries, but eventually Christine started calming down.

She pushed herself forward off of Jake and took one more deep breath. “I’m sorry.” she braced herself against the stage.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Jeremy said. “Do you know what that was?”

Christine shook her head.

“That was the beginning of a panic attack.” Jeremy said, scooting a little closer. “Do you have any idea why you’d be panicking?”

Christine looked backstage. “I can’t go back there.” she whispered. “That was where it happened.”

Jeremy glanced at Jake in confusion, who mouthed ‘Squip’ and raised an eyebrow, seeming to say “I think this is your department.” He backed further away, seeming to want to give the two of them some form of privacy.

“Most people I ask don’t remember the play very well,” Jeremy said slowly, turning back to Christine.

“I can’t imagine why. It was… horrible. Jenna called me over and told me to try the serum, and then there was this thing, like, _ grabbing _ my _ brain _ and it wouldn’t let go and—” Christine’s breathing started speeding up again.

“Woah, hey, it’s alright.” Jeremy said, leaning closer, still not entirely sure if that was okay but not sure what else to do.

“It feels like if I go back there again it’ll happen again, which is stupid, I mean—”

“I will not go anywhere near matches.” Jeremy said softly. “I can’t.”

Christine looked up. “Matches?”

Jeremy held up his arm and Christine looked down at it. “Oh, right.” she whispered, holding out her hand and leaving it hovering over his burn scars. She drew back a little before looking up at Jeremy. “Can I…?”

“Sure.”

Christine touched one gently, and Jeremy tried to ignore the sudden mental whispers of _ she’s touching my arm she’s touching it _ because seriously, brain, now’s not the time.

“Sorry.” Christine drew back again a second later. “I’m being weird.”

“No, you’re fine. My point is that it’s okay if being backstage reminds you of what happened. And you don’t have to go back there. We’ll get someone else to help take down the rest of the set.”

“But— but how am I supposed to be in theatre again if I can’t go backstage? I don’t— I don’t _ want _to give up theatre.”

“Well, it might just be this theatre. You can always try again in college.”

Christine shook her head. “Mr. Reyes needs my help. He’s freaked out by this place too, that’s why I told him I’d do this. I don’t know if he could run the theatre department if I’m not in it.”

Jeremy bit his lip. “They cancelled the spring musical, right?”

Christine nodded.

“Then… how about this. First of all, I think it’s a bad idea to push yourself to do something that bothers you just for someone else.”

“It’s more than that, though. I mean it, I don’t want to stop doing theatre—”

“I know, I get that. But you don’t need to rush yourself. Take a breather. Jake and I will get our friends to help with the set. And in the meantime… you and I could watch bootlegs together in a place that has nothing to do with theatre. And then when you feel up to it we could go see a show or two. And after that, if you’re ready, you can try out for the fall play. I’ll come and cheer you on.”

Christine stared at him. “You’d do that for me? You barely know me.”

Jeremy gently nudged Christine with his arm. “Yeah, but I get it, remember?”

Christine threw herself at Jeremy suddenly. He caught her in surprise, but quickly returned the hug.

Finally, Jeremy stood and offered a hand to Christine, who took it for help standing up, due to her legs still being a little shaky from her almost-panic-attack.

“Do you think you could take some time to help Mr. Reyes too?” Christine asked hesitantly.

“You got it.” Jeremy said. “And, since you might need someone to talk to about other stuff…” he stood up straighter to make himself look as official as possible, and cleared his throat. “Christine I Don’t Know Your Last Name!”

Christine laughed. “What?”

“As the original taker of a Squip and thus the obvious leader, I hereby grant you membership into the official Squip Squad!”

Christine laughed again. “Very well, I accept your offer, O Great Leader.” She bowed.

“Excellent. It is done.”

Christine grinned and laughed once again.

“Alright!”

Both of them glanced away in surprise.

“What, forget I was here?” Jake asked, raising a teasing eyebrow. “Never mind, that was obvious. You were too lost in each other’s eyes.”

“Wait, what?” Jeremy asked on reflex.

“What are you talking about?” Christine asked, seeming just as nervous for some reason.

“Oh relax, I’m just trying to lighten the mood. Well, since we’re not taking down a set today, who wants to go get food?”

“I’m down.” Christine said, starting to grin, which looked much more natural on her.

“Sweet! Sbarros!”

“No!” Jeremy said instantly. “Take us to get food that is edible!”

Jake turned to him with the fury of a thousand suns. Jeremy leveled a glare back at him.

“Sweet, an impasse! I get to pick!” Christine called.

Jeremy shared a glance with Jake, and they both shrugged.

“Sure, where are we going?” Jake asked.

“Krispy Kreme! I want donuts!”

“Ooh. Not gonna lie, donuts sound really good right now.” Jeremy said. “I’ll drive.”

“Cool.” Jake tossed him the car keys. “Donuts it is.”


	29. Chapter 29

Michael and Rich making up meant that Michael joined the table at lunch, and, by extension, the Squip Squad. And in case anyone was wondering—

_ No, _ it wasn’t awkward at all.

Okay, Brooke was being dramatic. Really it was the first two lunches that were the worst.

Christine joining the Squad had involved much less uncomfortableness. She and Jake were totally cool, and she was such a joy to be around that within one lunch period they were chatting like they were old friends. No one had really expected Michael to join the same day, but they weren’t going to kick him out. Although to be honest, Brooke could tell Jake was thinking about it, and she was almost on board with him.

Michael kept his interactions limited to Rich and Jenna. That made sense, as his relationships with everyone else were very rocky— and that made sense too. But Rich and Jenna had stronger friendships with everyone else and also joined in those conversations, and the dissonance was awkward.

The second lunch was mostly the same as the first, with the advantage— no, don’t call it an advantage, that’s mean. With the _ added fact _ that Michael wasn’t there right away that day. Rich said he was getting lunch from 7-11 that day. Jeremy looked curiously at Rich, and Brooke could tell he wanted to ask something, but in the end he stayed silent.

The conversation was easy and fun, and they made plans to meet up at Chloe’s house the following day for a study party (Jeremy needed help studying for a test he was worried about).

Then Michael showed up, and the conversation quickly ground to a halt.

Michael noticed, of course. He wasn’t an idiot. But Jenna and Rich had already made it clear that this was a thing that was happening, to the point that even Jake looked like he was reluctantly going to let him sit there.

It didn’t make it any easier, though.

“So, Chloe,” Brooke said slowly, turning to face her best friend. “We’re still on for after school, right?”

“Absolutely.” Chloe said. “And before you ask, you still don’t get to know what I’ve planned.”

“Ooh, surprises are fun!” Christine called from across the table, after a few seconds made it clear that was all the information Brooke was getting. “Did you guys hear about the surprise party that all of Mr. Davidson’s students threw for him the other day?”

“I don’t like him.” Rich said, at the same time that Jenna said “He sucks.”

“What’s your deal with Mr. Davidson?” Jeremy said, speaking up for the first time all lunch. Brooke sighed inwardly as a little bit of the awkward tension seemed to be slowly fading.

“Oh, he took Michael’s headphones this one time and I had to steal them back at the end of class.” Rich said.

“Wait, that was you?” Michael cut in.

“Of course that was me. I wasn't going to let you go the whole day without your headphones.”

“Oh.” Michael seemed to take a moment to reevaluate something. “Thanks.”

“He does give people bad grades just because he doesn’t like them.” Chloe said, likely to dispel the awkward tension that had just resurfaced at the mention of Michael. And again, that really wasn’t fair. He was sitting at the table, they couldn’t ignore him for the whole lunch just because he made them uncomfortable— okay, focus Brooke.

“And do you have any proof of this?” Jenna asked.

“Well, no, but that’s not the point! Everyone knows he does it!” Chloe exclaimed.

“Everyone does know he does it.” Jake grumbled. “Who was part of this surprise party?”

Everyone turned back to Christine.

“Well… his favorites.” Christine admitted.

“Knew it.” Jake said.

“Oh, shut up, you did not.” Jeremy said, elbowing Jake.

“Jeremy, I have very keen skills of deduction.” Jake said, sitting up straighter to display his seriousness.

Jeremy burst out laughing.

“What? I do!”

“Sure you do, sweetheart.” Jeremy said, patting Jake on the back.

“Hey, Rich.” Chloe leaned around behind Brooke to better get Rich’s attention. “I need to talk to you for a second. Think you could do me a favor?”

“Uh, sure.” Rich said, standing and following Chloe a little ways off.

“Yeah, okay, she’s definitely up to something.” Jenna said.

“Yeah, the surprise, we already knew that.” Christine pointed out.

“No, something else. I don’t think the surprise has to do with just her and Brooke.”

“You’re probably right.” Jeremy said.

“Course I am. Hey, Jake, you should listen to the actual master of deduction.”

Jake gasped in mock offense. “Jenna! How dare you!”

Brooke chuckled a little bit, then chanced a glance up to see Michael sneaking out of the lunchroom. She glanced over at his seat, wondering when he’d slipped off, and how none of them had noticed.

She sighed, hesitated for half a second, and stood up to follow him.

The hallway was mostly empty, so Brooke called to Michael’s retreating hoodie without fear of being heard. “This isn’t going to get any easier if you ditch the whole group every time you sit with us.”

Michael started and turned around, then, when he saw Brooke, stuffed his hands in his hoodie pocket. “Why do you care, anyway? It’ll be much less weird without me there.”

Brooke said nothing. He was probably right, but that wasn’t her point. “You’re not going to win anyone else over if you keep leaving.”

“I’m not going to win anyone else over period. Besides, I can’t…” Michael trailed off and looked away. “It’s hard to watch.”

“Which part?”

Michael said nothing.

Brooke stepped forward again. “Michael, Rich is friends with us now, like it or not.” She paused, and sighed. “Sorry, that came out really mean. But we all love Rich, and I know you do too. Look, honestly, I think one of the few things all of us have in common is how much we care about him.”

“I was talking about Jeremy.”

“Okay, him too—” Brooke stopped as what Michael had said processed. “Uh, what?”

Michael groaned. “Yeah, I was talking about Jeremy, okay? You caught me. I can’t— it’s hard. It’s so hard to watch him be best friends with somebody else.”

Brooke opened her mouth, then shut it again. She waited a second.

“I didn’t think you really cared about Jeremy anymore,” she said finally.

“Don’t insult me.” Michael spat.

Brooke jerked back in surprise. She crossed her arms. “And why the hell not? Am I not drawing a logical conclusion?”

Michael opened his mouth, but Brooke cut him off. “No, wait. Just stop. It’s my turn now. Look, so I’ll be the first to admit Jeremy’s Squip probably bullshitted the whole part about you straight-up telling him you didn’t want to be friends anymore.”

Michael’s eyes widened in shock.

“But you haven’t exactly been doing all you can to disprove the story. You yelled at Jeremy about apologizing. How exactly was that supposed to communicate that you still care about him? You haven’t spoken to him since then. Is that supposed to communicate it? Communication is key, asshole, remember? You—” Brooke sighed and rubbed at the space between her eyes. “Look. Maybe _I’m_ not communicating well, because I swear I don’t blame you entirely. I’m sure most of what originally happened is the Squip’s fault. But what I don’t understand,” Brooke crossed her arms again. “Is why you never even tried to talk to Jeremy. You seemed perfectly content with Rich, Michael, what am I supposed to take from that?”

“You think I didn’t try?” Michael said. “I tried. I tried the first day of sophomore year. I tried for weeks after that. I practically stalked him online trying to find out what happened. If you honestly need evidence that I was upset after losing who had been my best friend since I was _ five, _ you can always ask Rich. He knows. So yeah. Maybe I’m not ready to be friends with him again, but it’s still kind of hard to watch Jeremy joke with someone else like he doesn’t even need me anymore.”

Brooke hesitated too long. Michael turned to walk away again when Brooke moved forward and caught his arm.

“You know I lost count of how many times Jeremy told me he missed you.” she said quietly. “And I wasn’t even the person he was closest with. One of the first things he ever said to our group was that he hadn’t seen you in a while and he wanted to know what had happened. When he realized he’d lost you, like, actually lost you, he…” Brooke shook her head. “Well, I wasn’t there. I heard it wasn’t easy to see. Jake knows. And Chloe. Why do you think she’s so Mama-bear protective of him? Why do you think she hates you so much? That’s how she gets when she’s worried. And she’s been worried about Jeremy for a really long time.”

Michael looked hesitantly back at her. Brooke let go of his arm.

“I think you’re fooling yourself if you think Jeremy doesn’t need you anymore. Why haven’t you talked to him?”

Michael sighed. “I don’t know. I think I’m scared of who I’ll find.”

Well, Brooke wasn’t sure what she could say to that. It wasn’t a totally invalid fear.

“Come back and sit down?” she said instead.

Michael gave her a deadpan look. “Thanks, but I’m not in the mood to be awkwardly ignored again.”

“Well— I don’t want to see someone make themselves isolated and hurt again. Jeremy did it before, and I couldn't figure out how to help him.”

“I’m not going to isolate myself.” Michael said. “I have Rich and Jenna. I just don’t know if I’ll fit in with the rest of you.” He turned again and started to walk away.

“Wait!” Brooke called.

Michael sighed and paused. “What?”

“Just— hang on.” Brooke turned and sprinted back to the lunchroom, slowing down once she entered. To her surprise, Jenna was holding her lunchbox as she approached the table, but was otherwise still in the middle of sort-of-arguing with Jake.

She spared a half glance at Brooke and winked, then turned back to Jake again.

Brooke smiled, took the lunchbox, and headed back out of the lunchroom, where, to her surprise, Michael was still standing with his own lunch.

“Okay.” Brooke walked up beside him. “Let’s go.”

Michael raised his eyebrows at her. “Huh?”

“Take me with you. Let’s bond, dammit. I want to know what the hell Jeremy thinks is so great about assholes like you. Just have me back before school’s over so I can meet with Chloe.”

Michael smiled a little. “You sure?”

“Hell yeah. You say you’re not gonna fit in with the rest of us, but we won’t know for sure until we try forcing it.”

“Uh, I’m not sure that’s the best—”

“Let’s force it!”

Michael laughed a little. “Okay, cool. Let’s go.”

…

Okay, so Brooke totally got it. Michael was awesome. He expelled this energy that she had before only attributed to Christine. It was more selective than Christine, as she could sense he only let his walls down like that when he was comfortable, but he seemed like the kind of person who would be there for you when you needed it, and at the same time knew how to make you forget all your problems.

That afternoon they went to the bowling alley. And while Brooke was pretty sure they would get suspended if they kept skipping school so much, the part she mentioned about Michael making her forget all her problems worked wonders to get that fact out of her head. Besides, it was a Friday.

“Michael,” Brooke laughed as his ball rolled into the gutter again. “You are the worst bowler I have ever _ seen.” _

“You’ve clearly never been bowling with Jeremy,” Michael said, plopping down in the seat next to Brooke.

Brooke glanced at him curiously, a little surprised he brought it up.

Michael gave her a ‘What?’ look.

Brooke shrugged. “Okay.” she said, and was about to stand up when she froze. “Oh. My. God. You have blackmail stories.”

Michael snorted. “You think my blackmail stories are reserved for bowling?”

“No, but you have to give me details! I need to know things to tease him about!”

Michael grinned. “Okay, but you asked for it. So if we’re starting with bowling, there was this time when we were thirteen and Jeremy decided to live out his Wii bowling dreams and throw the ball back behind us.”

“Intentionally?”

“Of course not.”

Brooke snorted, and covered her mouth to stifle any more laughter. “Oh my God, I bet he still hasn’t let it go.”

“Of _ course _ he hasn’t. It’s probably one of the things that keeps him up at night.”

“That can’t be healthy.”

“Ah, I’m sure everyone is tortured by embarassing things from their past.”

Brooke laughed.

“And there was another time when we were really young. I think this might have been the first time we ever went bowling, and he thought he had to go down to the end of the lane and get the ball himself, so he ran along the lane and tripped and fell flat on his face.”

“Oh my God, really? Aww, but now I’m picturing baby Jeremy and baby you bowling. You must have been adorable!”

“I was. Him… eh.”

“Oh, shut up.” Brooke called, playfully smacking Michael on the arm.

“You know there was a whole period of time that started in 3rd grade where he wanted to learn Tagalog? And he just could not do it. Kind of like my mom. It could never stick for either of them, but they both kept trying for like, years. Jeremy said he wanted to know all the horrible things I said about him behind his back.” Michael’s gaze fell a little. “I was never quite sure he was joking.” he murmured.

“I’m sure he knows you love him.” Brooke said.

Michael raised an eyebrow. “Does he?”

Brooke hesitated, because to be honest, no, he probably didn’t. “I’m sure he did.” she said, dropping her voice quieter.

Michael sighed. “Jeremy Heere,” he said, like it was some kind of great declaration. Brooke nodded in agreement.

“He used to let me go on and on for hours about anything I was excited about.” Michael said, smiling a little again. “And he wouldn’t get annoyed, even if it was something he didn’t really care about.”

“Oh, that hasn’t changed. He spends a ton of time with Jenna listening to her go on about Psychology. And he goes out of his way to include her in conversations. And me, actually, which is super helpful, because a lot of the time I feel like no one listens to me. And Jake. Oh my God, he has a list of ways to make Jake feel better in any situation. I’m not kidding, he has a note on his phone, although I’m pretty sure he has it memorized.”

“Yeah, that’s Jeremy.” Michael said, smiling for another half a second before he sighed again. “I miss him so much.”

“You could talk to him.” Brooke said, because this was getting ridiculous.

Michael shook his head, and Brooke wanted to throw her hands up in frustration. Instead she paused to look at Michael again. “You’re… you’re more scared than you are mad, aren’t you?”

Michael sighed and dropped his head into his hands. “What if I still can’t recognize him?” he muttered. “What if that thing changed and twisted him around so much that he’s not even really Jeremy anymore?”

“Well, you’re never gonna know if you keep avoiding him. Isn’t not knowing worse?”

“I… don’t know.”

Brooke sighed, and reached for Michael’s hand and squeezed it. Michael squeezed back, and then looked at Brooke with a smile that looked almost real. “Okay, go bowl. I’m ready to cream you.”

Brooke decided to play along with an almost smile of her own. “Ha! You’ve been bowling your whole life and you still got gutter balls. Obviously my lack of experience is actually a good thing.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Here I go, about to drive you into the ground!”

“See, that would make more sense if we were playing golf—”

“Into. The. Ground.”

Brooke would be the first to admit she had no idea what she was doing, but in the end, her ball knocked over one pin on the end.

“So. That means I win, right?”

“No, Brooke. We have seven more rounds to go.”

“That’s what I meant.”

“Uh-huh, sure.”

Michael walked up to take his turn, and Brooke followed him. “So have you ever been bowling with Rich, then?”

Michael wrinkled his nose as he picked up his ball. “Yes. He’s a fucking natural.”

Brooke laughed. “Of course he is.”

Michael threw his ball closer to the middle of the lane and knocked over three pins. “So, hey. Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“About what happened with Rich, after Halloween.”

Brooke sighed. “Yeah. About that.”

“What happened?”

“Okay, so… you know what we all thought of you before the Squips got shut off.”

Michael picked up the ball again but didn’t throw it just yet. “Yeah, you said something about me telling Jeremy I didn’t want to be friends anymore. Did you mean like, to his face?”

“Yeah. That’s what Jeremy told us. So I’m guessing…”

“Squip.” they both said at the same time.

“Uh-huh.” Brooke continued. “I had no reason at the time to think that wasn’t true, so I assumed if you could be friends with Jeremy for ten years and then say a bunch of horrible stuff to his face, you had to be some kind of abusive asshole. And after I met Rich and saw what a sweetheart he was, um…”

Michael put the ball back down. “You thought I was abusing him in some way?”

Brooke sighed. “Yes. So then, on Halloween, he told me he said something horrible to you—”

Michael flinched, proving that right.

“—And he asked if he could stay at my house for a while. I thought getting him away from you was a good thing, so I said yes. I— I’m sorry.”

Michael picked up the ball again and threw it down the lane. He knocked over another pin. “You don’t need to apologize.” he said finally as Brooke picked up her ball.

Brooke glanced over in surprise. “But that lead to—”

“Yeah, the results may not have been great, but you had good intentions. And now I know you’ll go pretty far to help Rich if he ever gets in that kind of situation again. I’m glad you care so much about him.”

Brooke paused as she absorbed this. She walked down to the lane and threw her ball. It went straight towards the middle of the lane and knocked over six pins. Brooke cheered and threw her arms up.

“Wow. Okay. Y’know, maybe Jeremy and I really do just suck.”

“I knew it.” Brooke said. “And… by the way, my mom and dad both loved Rich.”

“He told me that. He said you guys were super nice.”

“I hope you don’t mind that I’m close to him.” Brooke said hesitantly.

“Why would I ever mind that? You think I’m gonna steal him away for myself? Rich is his own person, and he is totally allowed to have friends that aren’t me. I’m glad you guys get along so well.”

Brooke smiled at Michael. He was so different from everything she’d thought about him. It took her a minute to process what exactly she was feeling.

“I’m really glad you’re not an asshole.” she said finally.

“Uh, cool. Me too?”

Brooke laughed and picked up her ball to throw it again. She knocked over the last four pins, which she was now planning to bring up to Michael every now and then for the rest of her life.

_ And I’m really glad Jeremy got to grow up with someone like you. _

…

As they were pulling up to the school at 3:00, Brooke spotted Chloe waiting outside… along with Jenna and Christine?

“Thanks for the ride.” Brooke said as she opened the door and stepped out. Chloe and Christine both looked over in surprise. Jenna gave her a knowing smirk.

“Anytime. Can you grab Rich for me?”

“Yeah.” Brooke said, glancing over to where Rich was sitting reading a book on a bench. Brooke motioned to Chloe to hang on a second and jogged over.

“Hey, Rich.”

Rich looked up and beamed at her. “Brooke, hey! Where have you been all afternoon? I missed you in Biology.”

“I was on a Zuko field trip with Michael.”

Rich’s brow furrowed. “A Zuko field trip?”

“Avatar the Last Airbender?”

Rich blinked at her.

“What did you _ do _ during your childhood?”

“I read books.”

“Loser.”

“I know. So seriously, what’s a Zuko field trip?”

“Essentially a bonding session that changes all your opinions about someone.”

Rich’s eyes widened. “Wait, really? Did it work?” He leaned desperately towards her, and Brooke leaned back a little in surprise.

“You really care that much about what I think about Michael?” she asked.

“Brooke, _ yes! _You’re practically my sister, of course I care what you think about my brother!”

Brooke’s heart melted. “Rich, that was the sweetest thing I’ve heard in forever.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fucking precious. Do you like him or not?”

“Yeah, he rocks.”

Rich grinned. “Really?!”

“Yes. And I think he’s waiting on you to go home.”

As if he heard her, Michael honked the horn.

“Shut up!” Rich yelled around Brooke, before turning back to her and giving her a hug that Brooke returned easily.

Michael honked again.

“Calm down, I’m coming!” Rich screamed, starting to walk towards him. He turned and waved back at Brooke one last time. “Bye, that makes me really happy!”

“I’m glad!” Brooke called back, starting towards Chloe.

“So.” Jenna said as soon as Brooke approached. “How much do you love him?”

“Shut up.”

“That’s not an answer.”

Brooke glared at Jenna. “I’m… _ open _ to the idea of being friends as long as he apologizes to Jeremy.”

“You think he’s awesome.”

Brooke sighed. “Yeah…”

“Whoo!” Jenna called, throwing her hands up. “You’re welcome!”

“Okay, are we done talking about Michael now?” Chloe asked. “Because I still have plans.”

“Yeah, we’re done.” Brooke said. “Your plans involve all four of us?”

“Yep. Come on, everyone to Brooke’s car.” Chloe said, walking off.

“It’s my mother’s car!” Brooke called after her.

Chloe waved a hand dismissively behind her.

Brooke glanced over at Christine and Jenna, who both shrugged.

“Alright, well, let’s go see what we’re doing.” Jenna said, starting towards the car. Brooke followed and Christine brought up the end of the group. Brooke took shotgun and Jenna and Christine hopped in the back. Chloe pulled out of the spot and headed for the exit of the school. And five minutes later, Brooke was incredibly confused.

“Chloe, I do not understand why in the world you had to hide that you were taking us to Pinkberry.” Brooke said.

“I have reasons behind it!” Chloe exclaimed, turning off the car in the Pinkberry parking lot.

“I’m so confused.” Brooke whispered.

“Me too.” Christine piped up from the back seat.

“Are you just trying to be a drama queen?” Jenna asked as they all climbed out of the car.

Chloe glared at her. “No. Absolutely not.”

They followed her inside to get some frozen yogurt.

“You know, Chloe,” Brooke said. “Since you didn’t tell us this is where we were going I didn’t bring my Lactaid—”

Chloe fished a box out of her pocket and handed it to Brooke.

Brooke took it in surprise. “Did you rob my locker?”

“Maybe.”

“I think Jenna’s right, I think you’re being a drama queen.”

“Shut up.”

They all got their frozen yogurt and sat down at a table in the middle of the room.

“Alright.” Chloe sat up straighter in her seat. “Now that we have all gathered, I give you: The Squip Squad, Girl Edition.”

Brooke laughed. “You _ are _ being a drama queen!”

“Shut _ up. _ I’m serious. Jake, Jeremy, Rich and Michael are caught in some kind of weird love square, and—”

“Love square?!” Christine burst out suddenly. “Wait, are you saying Jeremy has a crush on Michael? Or are you saying he’s dating Jake? They do call each other babe all the time, do you think—” She cut herself off when she realized everyone was staring at her. “Oh, um. Nevermind.”

“Okay, let’s take a break from whatever Chloe’s trying to say to unpack _ that. _” Jenna said.

“Or we could not—”

“So you like Jeremy.” Brooke said, leaning forward.

“No!”

“Look, it’s no big deal. Jeremy’s amazing, anyone could fall for him.” Jenna said.

“Oh, and does that anyone include you?” Brooke asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m a lesbian, but nice try.”

Brooke laughed.

“I’m telling you it’s not like that!” Christine called, but her bright red cheeks gave her away.

“Okay, okay,” Chloe said, holding up her hands. “So for the sake of this conversation, let’s say a girl _ hypothetically _ had a crush on Jeremy.”

Christine’s cheeks did not become any less red.

“First up, this hypothetical girl would not have to worry about Jake, because they are strictly platonic, and only do the ‘babe’ thing because they think it’s funny.” Jenna said.

Christine swallowed. “And would this hypothetical girl need to worry about Michael?”

Brooke, Chloe, and Jenna all exchanged a look.

Brooke shrugged. “I don’t know. They have known each other most of their lives. Their relationship is really rocky right now, especially considering they refuse to _ talk to each other.” _

“Jesus, so many things could be solved if those two would just sit down and have an honest conversation.” Chloe said.

“Amen to that.” Brooke said. “But anyway, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I don’t think Michael has feelings for him, though. We had a whole conversation about Jeremy today, and from the vibe I was picking up, if he liked Jeremy that way, he would have told me.”

“I think the same is true on Jeremy’s side.” Jenna said. “He definitely loves Michael a whole lot, but I don’t think it’s romantic love.”

“I still think you should act fast and get your man.” Chloe said, taking another bite of frozen yogurt. “Threats to your chances or not.”

_ “Chloe.” _ Christine hissed, hiding her cheeks with her hands.

“Aww.” Brooke said. “It’s okay, we’re here for you Christine.” She patted her shoulder.

_ “Thank you.” _ Christine mumbled.

“So anyway, like I was saying before all of that,” Chloe said. “Jake, Rich, Jeremy, and Michael are all in some kind of weird platonic-slash-romantic love square with enough drama to satisfy—”

“You!” Brooke cut in quickly.

Chloe gave her a half-glare and Brooke snickered.

“And I think sometimes we all need a break from that.” Chloe continued eventually, looking away. “So I propose we all come to Pinkberry every Friday afternoon for the Squip Squad: Girl Edition meeting. Cause we don’t need no man!”

“Except Christine.” Brooke pointed out.

“I _ want _ a man, that’s different.” Christine said.

“You are absolutely right, I am so sorry.”

“I forgive you.”

“Yeah, I’m down.” Jenna said. “Girl Squad.”

Chloe sighed. “I should have just called it that.” she admitted.

“That’s okay Chlo. I’ll just always be smarter than you.”

Chloe smacked Jenna on the arm, who laughed.

“Yeah, Girl Squad.” Brooke said, smiling.

“Cool!” Christine called. “I’ve never had any female friends before!”

Brooke gasped. “No female friends?! But then who taught you how to smash the patriarchy?!”

“My mother.” Christine replied.

“Oh, okay.” Brooke said, relieved.

“Valid answer.” Jenna said with a nod.

“It sounds like we’re all on board.” Chloe said with a grin. “So who’s a great surprise planner?”

“Not you.” said everyone else simultaneously, and Chloe erupted into arguments which the rest of the table quickly followed up on. They were definitely bothering people around them.

They stayed at Pinkberry for another hour talking about various subjects, and then Brooke drove Christine and Jenna home before taking Chloe back to her house.

“Okay, I’ll admit.” Brooke said as they both stepped out of the car. “That was a really good idea.”

“See? Who’s the smartest person you know?”

“It’s a tie between Jenna and Rich due to their different kinds of intelligence.”

“That’s fair, honestly.”

“You staying for dinner?”

“If you want me to.”

“Absolutely. Mom’s making spaghetti and meatballs.”

“Ooh, yes!”

Brooke opened the door and was about to toss her backpack onto the couch before she realized she left it at school.

**Baka.**

Brooke blinked in surprise and looked around. She glanced back at Chloe. “Did you say something?”

Chloe gave her a confused look. “No.”

Brooke shook her head a little to clear it. “Huh. Nevermind. Guess it was nothing.” She walked towards the kitchen to get the plates to set the table.

…

The weekend must have left just enough time for Friday to settle in everyone’s minds and for people to make some decisions because when Brooke walked toward the lunchroom, she saw Jeremy, standing just outside, looking incredibly tense, and talking to Michael. Both Jeremy and Michael looked a little surprised that this was actually happening, and Michael was mostly looking away.

Brooke was about to go join in whatever they were talking about, but Michael walked away as she was approaching.

“Hey,” Brooke said to Jeremy, who was looking off after Michael, seeming a little stunned.

“Hi,” Jeremy said back. He sounded a little stunned too.

“Are you okay?” Brooke asked, stepping forward. “What was Michael talking about?”

“He— he was apologizing for yelling at me that time,” Jeremy said softly.

Brooke smiled a little. “Yeah? Good.”

“I don’t understand. I thought he hated me.” Jeremy murmured.

“Well this just goes to show not to jump to conclusions.” Brooke said, nudging him gently.

Jeremy smiled at her.

“Hey, Brooke!”

Brooke turned to see Christine jogging up to her. “Did you see what Jenna sent to the group chat?”

“Yes!” Brooke called. “It was hilarious!”

“Uh, no.” Jeremy said. “There’s a group chat?”

“Girl Squad.” Brooke and Christine said simultaneously.

Jeremy blinked in surprise. “There’s a Girl Squad?”

“We established it Friday afternoon.” Brooke said, grinning. “We wanted to get away from you boys and all your drama.”

Christine high fived her and they both started into the lunchroom.

There was a couple moments of silence before Jeremy’s started running to catch up with them. “Wait, we don’t have that much drama!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I meant to mention this and I forgot, but ’baka’ is Japanese for ‘fool.’


	30. Chapter 30

Rich was slowly getting used to waking up early on a Saturday morning again. Whatever the Squip had done to mess with his Circadian Rhythm was just starting to readjust itself after Rich spent nights working on it (and days being exhausted). But he could safely say it was worth it the first time he woke up at 5AM on a Saturday and got to watch the sunrise. He took his notebook outside and wrote a couple scenes for a story he was working on. He had plans to read Pride and Prejudice with Brooke later that day.

Rich walked into the kitchen from his spot on the front porch and got out a carton of eggs for omelettes. He had taken to making everyone breakfast when he woke up as a way to make himself useful until he could stay here without feeling like a burden.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) Michael knew exactly what he was doing, and got up early to help him most days. This had led to both of them going to bed at a reasonable hour, because Rich refused to let him make himself sleep deprived again.

“G’morning,” Michael said as he walked into the room and pulled out some oranges to squeeze for juice.

“You getting fancy today, Mikey?” Rich called.

“Fresh squeezed is better.” Michael countered. “Plus I like the texture the little rinds give it.”

Rich shook his head at him. “You are the weirdest person I’ve ever met.”

“Thank you.” There was a pause, and Michael said “But you’re still weirder.”

Rich did a double take and turned around, his shoulders tensing. It wouldn’t have bothered him if he didn’t hear a fair amount of actual malice behind the words. “What?” he asked.

Michael glanced at him. “I said ‘thank you,’ you know, sarcastically.”

“No, after that.”

“I said ‘but you’re still weirder.’ You know, sarcastically?”

“You sounded actually angry.” Rich said.

“Did I? I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to.” Michael paused when he picked up on how tense Rich was. He stepped forward. “Rich, I’m not angry, promise.”

Rich took a breath to calm himself down. “Okay, sorry. I’m good. I just… sorry.”

“It’s okay. Sorry my tone was weird.”

Both of them were doing an excellent job of ignoring the elephant in the room, and Rich decided he was going to keep it that way, and turned back to the eggs.

The incident slipped out of Rich’s mind for the rest of the day, which they spent lazing around the house, playing video games, and when Brooke got there, reading Pride and Prejudice.

Midway through that, there was a knock on the door.

Rich glanced over at Michael. “Did you invite Jenna over?”

Michael shook his head. “Jenna has this big book report due soon that’s she’s working on.” he said, standing walking over to the door. He looked through the peephole and his eyes lit up.

“Matt!” Michael called, pulling open the door.

“Wait, really?” Rich leapt up from where he was sitting on the couch to see, yes, Matt was standing in the doorway.

“Matt, hey!” Rich jogged over to the door, and Matt pulled both him and Michael into a hug. “I haven’t seen you since I got out of the hospital!”

“Yeah, I’m sorry it’s been so long.” Matt said, as they all backed up. “I was catching up on schoolwork and stuff.”

“That’s totally reasonable. You spent a couple months saving me from an evil supercomputer.” Rich said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“So this is the famous Matt I’ve heard about.” Brooke said, walking up from behind the three of them. “Hi, I’m Brooke.” She held out her hand.

“We’ve already met, technically.” Matt said, shaking her hand. “Briefly, during the Play, while you had a supercomputer in your head and I was entirely focused on other things.”

“Wow, how could she have forgotten.” Michael deadpanned.

Matt chuckled. “But yeah, it’s nice to meet you. I hear your family is pretty close to ours.”

“Relatively speaking.” Rich said. “Brooke’s parents haven’t technically met our moms yet.”

“Ah, okay.”

“So are you here for dinner?” Rich asked as they started back over to the couch and chairs in the living room.

“Yeah, tonight and tomorrow, as long as that’s cool with our moms. I did kinda spring this on everyone.”

“It’s always good with us!” called Analyn’s as she appeared, walking from the kitchen towards them. “Hi Matt.” She gave him a quick hug.

“Thanks, Nanay.” Matt said, returning the hug before Analyn waved a little and walked towards the hall.

“So Rich was reading Pride and Prejudice to us average people who couldn’t hope to do it ourselves.” Brooke said. “Would you care to join us?”

“Absolutely.” Matt said, picking the chair by the TV.

“Okay, cool!” Rich called, picking up the book. “So where were we…”

…

Brooke left later that day with plans to bring her parents for dinner the following night, so they could actually meet everyone. Matt claimed the couch upstairs to sleep on and Rich and Michael both retired to the basement (at a reasonable time so they could get up and make breakfast tomorrow).

Rich was climbing under his covers when Michael spoke.

“Well, you wasted the whole day.”

Rich glanced over in surprise. “I thought today was pretty awesome.” he said in confusion.

Michael grinned over at him. “Yeah, it was! Lazy Saturdays, man. They’re the best. And Matt showing up was an awesome surprise.”

Rich stared at him in confusion for another second before brushing it off. “Yeah, that was great. I can’t wait for you to meet Brooke’s parents tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to interrogate them like Matt did for us.”

Rich laughed. “Mikey!”

“What? I have to know if Brooke’s parents are worthy of the term of ‘Honorary Family.’”

Rich stood up and walked across the room to perch on Michael’s bed. “But just Brooke’s parents? What about Brooke?”

“Oh, she’s already earned the honorary sister term.”

Rich grinned at him. “Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if you know this, but we had a bonding session.”

“Yeah, she told me about that after calling it a Zuko field trip and yelling at me about the fact that I’ve never seen Avatar the Last Airbender.”

Michael stared at him.

“Oh God. Don’t—”

“You’ve _ never seen—” _

“No, I haven’t!”

“How did I not know this about you?!”

“I don’t know!”

“This must be remedied immediately!” Michael screamed, leaping up and scrambling for his laptop. “Now I have to waste a whole evening showing you this! How have you not seen it, you _ moron?” _

Rich flinched. “Uh, look we— we really don’t have to watch it if you don’t want—”

“Too late, this is happening!” Michael plopped down on the bed and started booting up the laptop. “Settle in for the best week of your life.”

“We’re not watching it all tonight?”

“There are three books, Rich.”

“Wait, there are books?”

“No, like— this is why you need to watch it!”

…

Monday morning rolled around with both Rich and Michael being more tired than usual, after spending the rest of the weekend watching Avatar the Last Airbender.

Okay look, it pulled you in, okay? It may or may not be totally amazing.

This exhaustion was the reason that Rich was not entirely sure he wasn’t hallucinating when he saw Jake standing at his locker seemingly with a purpose.

“Uh, hi Jake,” he said slowly, walking up alone, as Michael’s locker was in another hallway. “What’s up?”

“I’m intervening because otherwise I think you would put off speaking to me until death.”

Rich blinked. “What?”

“Brooke said you put off apologizing for too long, so I’m just going to make it clear that it’s not necessary. I don’t remember the Play super well, but it was clear you didn’t want me to be mind controlled.”

“Uh. No.” Rich looked down and started fidgeting with his hands.

“So it’s the Squip’s fault, and it’s cool. Also I’d really like to get to know you.”

“Uh…” Rich felt his face heating up. “Jenna said she told you I, um.”

“That you have a crush on me. Yeah.”

“And you’re okay with that?” Rich said.

“I am.” Jake said. Rich heard something else in his voice, but he didn’t look up to see his face.

“And you still want to get to know me?”

“You fascinate me.”

Rich looked up at that. “I _ fascinate _ you?”

“Yeah.” Jake crossed his arms with a little smile. “You’re Michael’s best friend, except you’re super sweet, you’re quirky and passionate about what you love, and you apparently liked me enough to take a supercomputer from the guy who bullied you. The guy who happens to be my best friend. So, yeah. I wanna know what the heck you’re about.”

“Uh… wow. Okay.” Rich said, trying to process everything that had just been said.

“So… after school, do you wanna maybe come to Sbarros with me and like, we could get to know each other?”

Rich had to stamp down his thoughts that suddenly started going _ date date date date date _— “Uh, yeah. Yeah, that sounds awesome.”

“Cool. I’ll see you in English.” Jake said, and walked off presumably towards his locker.

_ He noticed we share English! _ sang an angel choir that very suddenly appeared above Jake’s retreating form.

_ Could my bisexuality kindly do me the favor of shutting up? _

“Yes, that would be very helpful.”

Rich looked around in surprise, but Michael wasn’t anywhere nearby, which was weird, because he could have sworn he heard his voice.

Rich shook it off and headed towards English.

…

“I’m sorry that I’m not a super smart writer like Rich is, okay?” was the first thing Rich heard as he approached the lunch table, coming from Jake as he shook a bunch of pieces of paper in Jeremy’s face.

“Uh… am I needed?” Rich asked slowly, sitting down next to Michael on the other side of the table.

“Rich!” Jeremy called. “How do you write a good analysis essay?”

“Well, what’s the topic?”

“‘Great Expectations.’” Jake said. “His English class is reading it too, and I have reached my limits of how much I can help him.”

“Okay, well, in my experience, every teacher has a specific way they want essays written, and everyone expects you to already know their way.”

“Ugh, right?” Chloe groaned from across the table, looking up from her phone for a second.

“That being said,” Rich continued. “Think about elementary school stuff. Setting, plot, climax. Start there. Look at the elements found in all stories, and analyze the ones for the story you’re writing about.”

“Don’t forget theme.” Michael called, pulling his headphones down and tuning into the conversation. “We have the same English teacher, right? He likes essays to be super focused on the theme.”

Everyone stared at him for a second.

Michael shrugged. “I’ve lived with Rich for over a year,” was his only offered explanation.

“Oh, like you could ever live up to my example.” Rich said, elbowing Michael until he nudged him a little to the right.

Michael smirked at him before going back to his food, and Rich was about to turn back to help Jeremy again when Michael said “There you go, acting like you’re smarter than me again.”

Rich winced. “Um, Mikey?” he said quietly, leaning in. “You said you weren’t gonna make jokes like that anymore. You kinda did it last night too.”

Michael turned to him in confusion. “What joke?”

“Michael, come on.” Rich lowered his voice again as everyone else went back to their own conversations. “Seriously, I’m sorry it bothers me, okay? Just, please?”

“Well, if something bothers you we can talk about it, but I honestly don’t know what you’re referring to. Why would me saying I’ve lived with you for over a year bother you? That’s just a fact.”

“Not that Mikey, after that.”

“That’s the last thing I said.”

“No, you said—” Rich stopped. “You said something like…”

He had sounded like the Squip. Just like he had when he called Rich weirder than him while making orange juice, or mentioned wasting the day, or called him a moron. But now that he thought about it, all of those things were very un-Michael things to say, or at least ways to say them. So why would—

**Well, that took you long enough to figure out.**

Rich froze.

Michael said something, probably Rich’s name, but Rich didn’t hear him.

**Hello, Rich. Lovely to see you again.**

“Um—” Rich stood up much too quickly, drawing the table’s attention to him. “I have to— um—” He turned and sprinted from the lunchroom before finishing his sentence, ignoring the concerned cries after him.

**Running will do you no good, Rich. I assumed you were smart enough to know this.**

Rich shoved his hands over his ears. _ Shut up! _

**Putting your hands over your ears will do you no good, either. Do I need to explain this to you?**

Rich stumbled over to the other side of the hallway and collapsed against a set of lockers, trying to slow his rapidly picking up breathing.

**Rich, you’re being ridiculous. Calm down.**

“Rich?” called the same voice. Was that actually Michael? “It’s okay. Can you hear me? You need to calm down.”

_ Squip, Squip, definitely the Squip! _

Rich felt a hand land on his shoulder which he shoved away, trying to move further away from it.

**Rich, stop being moronic. **“It’s just me!”

_ “Shut up!” _ Rich called, not sure if he said it out loud or not. He shoved his hands over his ears again and shut his eyes.

Rich wasn’t sure how long he stayed like that, but the Squip definitely didn’t shut up for a while.

Finally, a different voice started speaking. “Rich, can you hear me?”

Rich opened his eyes hesitantly. “Jeremy?”

“Yeah, I’m right here.”

He wasn’t lying. Jeremy was sitting about a foot away, kneeling (when had they ended up on the floor?), and Michael was standing back on the other side of the hallway, looking concerned. There was a flickering shape beside him. Rich stopped looking at Michael.

“It’s gonna be alright, Rich.” Jeremy said. Rich looked back at him.

“But I can hear it.” Rich said weakly. “It sounds like Mikey, and I don’t like it.”

“I know. But it’s gonna be alright.” Jeremy scooted a little closer. “Do you need to squeeze my hand?” He held it out as an offering.

Rich grabbed it, but didn’t feel quite strong enough to squeeze it.

**Pathetic.**

Rich shut his eyes again and started to curl in on himself.

“Hey, stop it. That’s not gonna help.” Jeremy said. Rich looked at him again.

“Don’t make yourself small.” Jeremy said. “That’s how it already sees you.”

Rich sniffed and dragged a hand up to wipe at his eyes. Jeremy squeezed his hand.

Slowly, Rich spread his legs out in front of him and leaned back against the lockers. Jeremy moved to sit next to him.

“Does yours look like Mikey too?” Rich whispered, looking over again, trying to focus on Jeremy and ignore the Squip still talking in the background.

Jeremy shook his head. “My Squip isn’t here in real life.” he said. “That makes it easier.”

“Do you still hear yours too?”

Jeremy nodded slowly. “Sometimes. A lot more lately. And by lately I mean like, this past weekend. I think they started talking again around the same time. And I freaked out the first time too, by the way. So don’t feel bad about it.”

“Have you told anyone?”

“Jake. We decided not to keep secrets from each other.”

Rich blinked at him. “You just decided not to?”

Jeremy nodded. “We thought that after everything, communication should probably be a priority. Jake says he thinks he’s hearing something too. With today, I’m going to start asking everyone every now and then.”

Rich nodded. “Okay. I can too.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I can do it.”

“Hey, can you tell me about how to write an essay again?” Jeremy said, ignoring his last statement.

“What? Uh, you start with elementary school stuff like climax and plot and setting. And characters. And um, Mikey says you have the same English teacher and he likes theme.”

“How many paragraphs should there be? Five, right?”

“Yeah. Intro and conclusion and usually three body paragraphs. But you can always add more.”

“Okay. Hey, have you ever read ‘Great Expectations?’”

“Uh, yeah. I finished it for English. It’s good.”

“What’s your favorite part?”

“Um…”

Rich paused when he realized the Squip hadn’t spoken in a while. He looked hesitantly over towards Michael to see it was gone, then sighed in relief and leaned back against the lockers.

“Gone?” Jeremy asked.

“Uh-huh. Thanks.”

“Of course.”

“Mikey? You uh— you can come here now.” Rich called hesitantly.

Michael walked slowly across the hallway, like he was giving Rich time to change his mind. He still kneeled down a couple feet away. “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

Rich reached for Michael and pulled him into a hug. “I’m sorry.” he mumbled into his shoulder.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Michael said, hugging Rich back. “It’s not your fault. Sorry I made it worse.”

“That’s not your fault.” Rich shot back.

Michael laughed a little. “Okay, fair.”

Rich leaned back a little to look at Michael. “How am I supposed to be able to tell you guys apart?”

“Jesus, Rich, just ask me. If you hear something that bothers you, ask me if I said it. If I did, we’ll talk about that, and if it was the Squip, we can say ‘fuck you’ and move on.”

Rich nodded slowly. “I would love to say ‘fuck you’ and move on.” he admitted.

“Okay, so we will. Problem solved.”

Rich sighed and leaned back against the locker again. He glanced over to Jeremy again to thank him only to find him gone. “Where did Jeremy go?”

Michael glanced over too. “I guess he went back to the cafeteria. With how many times I’ve left because he’s with his friends, I guess it’s only fair.” He turned back to Rich. “I think he made everyone else stay behind or they’d be out here. He probably figured they’d overwhelm you.”

“They definitely would have.” Rich muttered. 

“Do you want to go home?”

“We leave school too much.”

“The general consensus all seems to agree on that. But you just had a panic attack. You need rest. It doesn’t count as skipping school.”

Rich nodded. “Yeah, let’s go home.”

“I’ll call Nanay and let her know what we’re doing.” Michael said, standing up and offering a hand to Rich, who took it. He leaned a little bit on Michael as they started down the hallway, as his legs still felt a little weak.

“Can you text everyone else to let them know what’s happening?” he asked.

“I mean, I don’t know if I have anyone’s phone number. I don’t think Jenna and Brooke gave theirs to me, we just didn’t get around to it.”

“Do you still have Jeremy’s?”

Michael blinked as if just realizing. “Uh, actually yeah. Unless he changed it.” Michael typed something out on his phone screen. It buzzed a second later.

“He says he’s got it.” Michael said.

They both stopped as they reached the office, and when they walked in, Michael put his phone up to his ear as Rich sat down on a chair.

Less than a minute later Michael had permission to take them home, and they were on their way.

“I think I’m going to sleep when I get home.” Rich said.

“I think that’s a good plan. Also, if you try to make breakfast tomorrow I will lay on top of you until you fall back asleep.”

Rich laughed a little weakly. “Got it.”

Michael glanced across the car. “I love you. You know that, right?”

Rich smiled back. “Yeah. And I’m worth it.”

Michael laughed. “Wow! The return of love is denied!”

“Yep. That’s how it’s gonna be from now on.”

“Rich, no! I need validation!”

“That’s a different thing entirely. I can totally validate you. You’re thoughtful and smart and caring and all of your feelings are totally valid no matter how confusing they are to you.”

Michael gave an obvious fake sniff. “I feel wholeness and acceptance welling up inside me.”

“That’s the power of validation at work.”

“It is not oversold.”

Michael turned and pulled into the driveway, and Rich climbed out, managing to walk into the house without help this time.

“So Mom and Nanay offered to come home if you need them.” Michael said, shutting the door.

“Nah, it’s alright. I’m just gonna sleep, that’s pretty low-maintenance.”

“Okay, I will tell them that and meet you downstairs.”

“Thanks.”

Rich walked down to his room and managed to change from his jeans into sweatpants before he collapsed in his bed and was out like a light.


	31. Chapter 31

Jake spent the rest of the day worried about Rich. Jeremy exchanged many a glance with Jenna, who finally rolled her eyes and mouthed ‘crush’ at him, which explained a lot.

But it was clear that Jake wasn’t going to try to date Rich for some reason, meaning Jeremy had to find out what that reason was and yell at him to stop being dumb.

So when Jake said something on their way to the mall after school about how this totally wasn’t the main problem, but he had sort of been looking forward to taking Rich to Sbarros today like they’d planned, Jeremy dove right in with: “Holy shit, you asked Rich on a date?”

Maybe it was poor timing, because Jake nearly drove them into another lane, and a car honked at them very loudly.

_ “What?!” _ Jake exclaimed. _ “No! _ No, I’m not going to date Rich Goranski, that’s like… we don’t really like him, right?”

We?

Oh. _ Oh. _

Shit, Jake.

Jeremy bit his lip as he thought for a second. So Jake wasn’t dating Rich for his sake. That was very sweet, but he didn’t care. It would clearly make both of them very happy, and of course that was all he wanted. But if Jeremy came out and said that, Jake might drive them into another lane again. So how should he let him know?

Another person popped into Jeremy’s head, and he paused, realizing a way this could maybe work in both of their favors.

“So, hey,” he said. “Hypothetically.”

“What?” Jake asked.

“I have a hypothetical question for you.”

“Oh, uh. Okay?”

“Hypothetically, how do you feel about the ‘you should not date this person because of their relation to your best friend’ rule?”

There was a short moment of silence before Jake gave a short laugh. “Oh my God! It’s so stupid!”

“Right?!” Jeremy called, throwing his hands up. “So stupid!”

“Like, I cannot think of another stupid rule, stupider than that one.”

“Me either!”

“So…” Jake bit his lip. “If we both think this hypothetical rule is stupid, hypothetically, we wouldn’t follow it, right?”

“Of course not. If the situation just so happened to arise where one of us wanted to date someone we thought the other would have a problem with, we would most certainly not follow this rule.”

“Cool. Very cool.”

They were both silent for a minute before Jeremy smirked over at Jake. “So. Rich, then?”

Jake sighed. “Yeah…” he muttered. “Christine?”

“You guessed it.”

“Go for it, man.”

“Yeah, you two will be super cute together.”

And with that, Jeremy leaned back in the car and started planning his asking out of Christine.

…

That was, however, put off by Analyn and Rachel. They were sitting in his kitchen when Jeremy got home, talking to his dad. And by the look on all of their faces and the way his dad was wiping at his eyes, it was clear he was explaining about Jeremy’s mom.

“Um, hi.” Jeremy said, walking over.

Everyone glanced over and Analyn and Rachel both smiled at him a little.

“Hello, Jeremy.” Analyn said, standing up and walking towards him. She gave him a hug which Jeremy might have returned a little too quickly. Analyn pulled back a second later. “There’s something we need to talk to you about. Can we go to the kitchen?”

“Okay.” Jeremy said hesitantly, setting his bag down on the couch to grab later. He followed Analyn into the kitchen and got a glass of water.

“Okay.” she said. “So you are aware that Rachel and I know everything that happened, including everything about the Squips themselves.”

Jeremy nodded, wondering where this was going. “Yeah.”

“And that made it much easier for us to understand what was happening in Rich’s head, and what Michael was going through trying to save him.”

“Okay?” Jeremy said, still confused. “What are you saying?”

“Jeremy, I think you should tell your father about the Squip.”

Jeremy looked away. “No.”

“Jeremy—”

“I’m not going to dump that on his plate too. He’s dealing with enough already, and he’s just now starting to move on from Mom. And he thinks I tried to kill myself. I’m not going to correct him by saying ‘Oh hey, you know it was actually a murder attempt by an evil supercomputer in my head that had been ruining my life for more than a year!’”

“Jeremy.” Analyn walked forward and put her hands on Jeremy’s shoulders. “It is not on you to worry about what your father is going through. That is not your job. He is your parent. It is his job to help you with this. And we will always be here for that too, but I think your father knowing what you’re going through would help him understand better, and know how best to help you.”

Jeremy looked down a second in thought. “Will you be here while I tell him?” he asked quietly.

“Of course.” Analyn said.

“Okay.” Jeremy looked up. “I’ll tell him.”

Analyn smiled and squeezed his shoulders before they both walked into the other room.

“Hey, Dad?” Jeremy called hesitantly, as he and Rachel both looked over at him. “I need to tell you something.”

So Jeremy told his Dad everything. He started with buying the Squip the day his mom left, and the fact that the Squip looked like her, which seemed to make his dad way too concerned already. It got worse when he started to explain the way it treated him, and Analyn, who was sitting next to him, reached over and squeezed his hand.

Talking about Jake and his friends was the easiest part, because they were so supportive and helpful, even though they had no clue what was actually going on.

And the hardest part to talk about was obviously Halloween. He kept his gaze firmly fixed on the table while he explained.

By the end of his explanation, everyone in the room had shed more than a few tears, and his father had talked about making plans for Jeremy to talk to a therapist. He was honestly looking forward to it.

“And you said you still hear this thing every now and then?” Paul asked.

Jeremy nodded slowly. “Yeah. It… it still doesn’t sound so different from Mom. Except I know she’s not here.”

Analyn reached over and squeezed his hand again, which Jeremy squeezed back.

“Have you talked to any of your friends about this?” Paul asked.

“Um, yeah. Jake knows everything. Rich knows some, and so do Brooke and Jenna and Christine. And Chloe was there for everything with Michael.”

Rachel leaned across the table. “Have you talked to Michael yet?”

“No.” Jeremy said. “Not about everything. I mean, we’re in the same friend group, so of course we talk to each other sometimes…” he trailed off and looked away from everyone looking at him.

“Jeremy,” Analyn said. “You know he misses you too.”

“Why would he?” Jeremy muttered.

“Hey, none of that.” Rachel said. “It’s time you talk to him.”

Jeremy winced. “Can’t I do something less scary, like ask out this girl I like?”

His father sat forward suddenly. “Well you should do both, but now we’re gonna talk about that.” he said.

Jeremy groaned and buried his head in his hands.

…

It wasn’t uncommon at that point for Chistine to be seen at Jeremy’s house, they spent many days in his room geeking out over plays and musicals, which Jeremy had quickly taken a liking to as well. He totally got why Christine thought they were so great. Sometimes Rich joined them and they all talked about Shakespeare, but today Jake was taking him to Sbarros and asking him out at pretty much the same time Jeremy was planning to do so for Christine.

Jeremy took Christine home with him after school that day and they both grabbed a couple of chip bags before heading up to his room and Christine turned on the soundtrack from Camelot.

“So, hey,” she said, as the first song started playing. “Can I pick your brain about something?”

Jeremy looked over to see her fidgeting with her stim bracelet, which wasn’t too out of the ordinary, but she looked fairly nervous, which was more unusual.

“Of course.” he said, turning to face her.

“How do you feel about the LGBT community?” Christine grabbed her stim bracelet from underneath and spun it back and forth.

Jeremy sighed. “Goddammit, is this because of the fucking Squip agian?”

Christine blinked at him in surprise.

“Look,” Jeremy continued. “If I need to make a blanket statement to all our friends that I am perfectly okay with the LGBT community, just let me know, because I will.”

Christine blinked again before she smiled. “Oh, okay. So does that mean you know what asexual is?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, awesome! Because that’s me. I am aseuxal and heteroromantic.”

“Okay.” Jeremy said, smiling at her. “That’s awesome. Thank you for trusting me with that.” He opened his arms. “Hug?”

“Hug!” Christine cried happily and wrapped her arms around Jeremy and squeezed.

“Woah, holy shit Christine!” Jeremy called, laughing. “I forgot how strong you are.”

“You made a grave mistake.” Christine said to the space over Jeremy’s shoulder.

“Uh… just about the strength part, or something else?”

In response, Christine started tickling him under his armpits.

“Ahhh, Chrissy st— stop it!” Jeremy screamed in between laughs.

“Never!” Christine screamed, leading to another half a minute of tickling and then another of Jeremy trying to catch his breath.

When they both finally stopped breathing heavily and looked at each other again, Jeremy thought of a question.

“Hey,” he said. “Obviously it’s totally fine, but any particular reason you told me that right now?”

Christine was fiddling anxiously with her stim bracelet again. “Uh… I have reasons?” she said.

Jeremy wasn’t sure if it was that statement, which made him think ‘Wait a minute,’ the fact that she had just been emotionally honest and personal with him, or the fact that he was planning to ask her today anyway, but he carefully took her phone and scrolled down the playlist until he found the song he wanted.

Christine glanced at the phone in surprise before Jeremy started to sing.

_ Oh no, not in springtime _

_ Summer winter or fall _

_ No, never would I leave you at all _

Christine started to grin at him, but paused when she saw the look on his face.

_ If ever I would leave you _

_ It wouldn’t be in summer _

Christine had a growing pink tinge on her cheeks, and Jeremy’s heart was pounding hard enough that it was almost making him sing too quickly, but he kept going.

_ Seeing you in summer _

_ I never would go _

_ Your hair streaked with sunlight _

_ Your lips red as flame _

Jeremy stood up and held out his hand to Christine, who took it with a bit of an awestruck look on her face.

_ Your face with a lustre _

_ That puts gold to shame _

Christine’s cheeks were definitely bright red now, and Jeremy was certain that his were too, but they both seemed to be ignoring it. Jeremy reached for his other hand and started gently rocking them back and forth as Christine followed.

_ But if I’d ever leave you _

_ It couldn’t be in autumn _

_ How I’d leave in autumn _

_ I never will know _

Christine’s red cheeks had faded into a smile, and he could see stars in her eyes.

_ I’ve seen how you sparkle _

_ When fall nips the air _

_ I know you in autumn _

_ And I must be there _

They had both leaned closer, still swaying, and Christine put her hand on Jeremy’s shoulder as Jeremy put his on her waist and they started to move a little more around the room. Jeremy sung a little softer as they moved away so they could still hear the music on the playlist as it faded a bit.

_ And could I leave you running merrily through the snow? _

_ Or on a wintry evening when you catch the fire’s glow? _

Jeremy was pretty sure he’d never seen Christine grinning so much, and he was positive he hadn’t grinned so much in ages.

_ If ever I would leave you _

_ How could it be in springtime? _

_ Knowing how in spring I’m _

_ Bewitched by you so? _

Christine’s smile faded more to a gentle glow, and she joined him on the last lines.

_ Oh no, not in springtime, _

_ Summer winter or fall _

_ No, never could I leave you _

_ At all _

They stopped in the middle of Jeremy’s room and Jeremy looked down at Christine. “So… would you like to go out with me sometime?” Jeremy asked nervously.

Christine stood on her tip toes and kissed Jeremy’s cheek. “You rascal, you beat me to it.” she said, before smiling wide again. “I would like that very much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Jeremy is singing is called “If Ever I Would Leave You” from Camelot.


	32. Chapter 32

So Jake was losing his goddamn mind. With how many times he’d asked someone out you would have thought it would get easier after a while.

Now, could you make the arguments that A, he’d never asked out a boy before, and B, he was kinda coming off the adrenaline of telling himself today was the day he was going to do it with no warning? Yes, you could, but you could also point out that A, he already knew Rich liked him, and B, Jake was just an awkward mess with crushes, always had been.

It was probably amusing to everyone that the person known by many as ‘High School Awesomeness Personified’ could be nervous, but something about crushes just got to him. And so Jake got to the mall twenty minutes early, and paced back and forth outside.

It would be fine, right? He literally already knew that Rich returned his feelings. All he had to do was ask and boom, he knew they’d be dating. It was that easy.

So why wasn’t this easy?

He got a text from Jeremy ten minutes into his pacing session.

_ Jeremy: _ Hey, don’t know when you’ll see this, but I have a girlfriend now!

_ Jake: _ That’s amazing! I’m freaking the fuck out!

_ Jeremy: _ Jake you got this. You’re going to make his entire life.

_ Jeremy: _ Hi Jake this is Christine! As someone who has been asked out by you before, I can confirm it is a flatting experience that everyone wants to happen to them!

_ Jake: _I’m sure that’s a great thing to hear from someone who just became your girlfriend

_ Jeremy: _ Jeremy again, now shush and go knock his socks off. You’ve totally got this.

_ Jeremy: _ We believe in you!

_ Jeremy: _ Sorry this is Christine again!

Jake chuckled, sent a thanks, and shut his phone off. Right on time too, because a familiar PT cruiser was pulling up in front of him.

Rich hopped out of the passenger seat and waved at Jake as he did so. He looked about as nervous as Jake felt.

“Hey!” he called.

“Hi.” Jake replied, walking towards the car. “Are we doing this?”

“Totally.” Rich said, and they both started forward a bit when from behind them, Michael called Jake’s name.

Jake turned around. “Uh, yeah?” he asked.

“Come here.” Michael called, beckoning him closer.

Jake walked forward and stuck his head in the window, and suddenly Michael’s smile turned murderous.

“I want you to understand something,” he said, as Jake’s eyes widened. “No matter how much Rich thinks he doesn’t deserve you and you wouldn’t even think about asking him out, I am at no loss for why you asked him here today. So lets all of us make this crystal clear.”

“All of us?” Jake asked nervously.

A head appeared from the back seat, and Jake yelped a little bit.

“Hi. I’m Matt. We met while my brother was mind controlling you. We all feel kinda bad about that, but that’s not our point here today.”

Matt leaned close to Jake’s face and Jake backed away a little bit.

“Hurt our little brother?” Matt said.

“We break your legs again.” Michael said from the driver’s seat.

Jake smiled in a way he was sure looked terrified. “Got it.” he said.

“Cool.” Both Michael and Matt’s smiles turned infinitely more relaxed.

“Bye!” they called simultaneously, and Michael drove away.

“Jake?”

Jake turned around to see Rich over by the mall’s entrance. “You coming?”

Jake did his best to shake off the big brother talk. “Yep!” he called, walking forward, now about twice as nervous as before.

“So, why exactly do you love Sbarros?” Rich asked as they both headed for the mall food court.

“Oh, well, when I was little, my parents didn’t really make dinner all that much.” Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “And I didn’t learn how to cook until recently, so my parents would buy Sbarros pretty often, and it became kinda like, a comfort food for me. Sorry, we don’t have to talk about them. My parents weren’t the greatest.”

“Michael’s moms adopted me and Matt because we had an abusive father.” Rich said softly.

Jake glanced over. “Oh,” he said. “Well. Parents.”

“Biological parents.” Rich agreed. “But if you ever want to come over for dinner, I’m sure my moms won’t mind. Just so you don’t have to cook every night.”

“Uh… wow, thanks.” Jake said. “I might just take you up on that. Especially considering it’s pretty hard to cook in the hotel room I live in.”

Rich smiled, and they stopped outside the Sbarros. They both ordered pizza as Jake tried to get his slowly worsening nerves under control.

“Okay, so just so you know,” he said as they carried the pepperoni pizza back to the table. “Jeremy hates this pizza, so if you hate it too I might lose it.”

Rich laughed a little bit. “Duly noted.”

But Jake didn’t have anything to worry about, because Rich loved the pizza.

“Jeremy’s a moron,” he said as he started on the third piece. “This is amazing.”

“Right?!” Jake exclaimed. “I was like, half convinced it was just comfort food nostalgia getting to me.”

“Definitely not, because this is fantastic.” Rich said, beaming.

Jake grinned back at him before taking a breath and poking at his second piece of pizza. He had eaten significantly less than usual.

Rich seemed to notice this. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked.

“Okay, so I might have had an ulterior motive to asking if you still wanted to do this,” Jake admitted.

Rich set his pizza down in surprise. “You did?”

Jake nodded. “So… let me tell you about what happened when Jenna told me you had a crush on me.”

Rich’s face went bright red. “Uh…”

“No, I mean it. I want to tell you.”

Rich looked up hesitantly. “Okay.”

“So, I was really caught off guard by it, and I’m sure you noticed I started treating you differently.”

Rich nodded.

“I was trying to figure out how I felt about it. I told you I didn’t want to get to know you because I thought it would hurt Jeremy. And that was partially true, but also kind of a lie.”

Rich blinked in surprise. “Really?”

Jake nodded. “I was just dealing with a lot of stuff right then, and I decided I couldn’t add a sexuality crisis too, because I’d kind of realized I didn’t hate the idea of dating you?”

Rich’s eyes widened.

“And after the Squips were all shut off, I started paying a lot of attention to you. I wasn’t lying about the fact that you fascinated me. I just… was still thinking of Jeremy first. But the other day we had a whole ‘hypothetical—’” he made air quotes— “conversation where we decided the whole ‘You can’t date this person because of your best friend’ rule is total bullshit. So, um.”

Rich was staring at him. “I— is this— did you ask me on a date?” he asked in bewilderment. “Is this a date?”

“I mean…” Jake swallowed. “Only if you still want it to be.”

“Yes.” Rich said immediately. “Holy shit, yes! Oh my— yes!”

Jake smirked a little, some of his confidence returning now that the question was asked. “Sorry, was that a yes? I couldn’t tell.”

Rich started grinning. “Mikey told me he thought this was what was happening, but I didn’t believe him— oh my God!”

Jake laughed. “Yeah, he and Matt gave me a big brother speech before we walked in here.”

“They did? Ugh, _ that’s _why Matt wanted to come! I’m going to kill them!”

Jake laughed again. “See, I kind of figured this would go well, but I was still freaking out about it.”

“That’s fine.” Rich started grinning at him again. “You’re doing better than I would have.”

“Only because I knew what you’d say.” Jake admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Even if you didn’t you’d still do better than me.”

“I did ask Christine on our first sort-of date by misquoting Romeo and Juliet and calling a bow a victory dance.”

Rich laughed. “You did! But how did you know you messed up, did you do research after the fact for Christine?”

“Yeah. Christine. Sure, let’s go with that.” Jake said, looking away.

Rich went bright red.

…

_ Jake: _ Not sure when you’ll see this but I have a boyfriend now

_ Jeremy: _I knew it

_ Jake: _And Michael and Matt both gave me a big brother talk

_ Jeremy: _ I KNEW IT

_ Jake: _ Really?

_ Jeremy _: Well considering Michael always said he was gonna give my first girlfriend or boyfriend a best friend talk

_ Jeremy: _ And Matt can be super overprotective for understandable reasons

_ Jeremy: _Yeah I knew it

_ Jake: _ Understandable reasons? You mean you know about why Michael’s moms adopted the two of them?

_ Jeremy: _About Rich’s biological father? Yeah

_ Jeremy: _ My Squip told me

_ Jeremy: _ Considering how I found out I didn’t think it would be okay to tell you

_ Jake: _That makes sense

_ Jake: _I’ve never had a boyfriend before Jeremy

_ Jake: _ This is gonna be fun

_ Jake: _ Do you think it’s different than having a girlfriend ?

_ Jeremy: _ I wouldn’t know, I’ve never had one

_ Jeremy: _ I mean, maybe someday, but I don’t really plan on breaking up with Christine anytime soon

_ Jake: _ Maybe someday?

_ Jeremy: _ Oh yeah

_ Jeremy: _ I think I’m bi

_ Jeremy: _Weird thing to realize the day you get a girlfriend, but you know

_ Jake: _ BABE

_ Jake: _ NOW WE CAN MAKE OUR COUPLES JOKES EVEN MORE BELIEVABLE

_ Jeremy: _BABE


	33. Chapter 33

For some reason no one who Michael normally shared his last class with was there that day. He shared it with Rich, Chloe, and Christine, and all three of them were gone. It was weirder because they had been there at lunch. Rich also texted Michael that he was getting a ride home from Jake, which was also _ weird _ considering they both lived in the same house. Eventually Michael brushed it off and drove home by himself.

“I’m home!” he called as he walked inside and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed an apple and ate the whole thing before realizing no one else had responded and the house felt strangely silent.

“Nanay?” he called, walking towards the back of the house. “Mom? Rich?”

He opened the basement door and started walking downstairs, and was then greeted in his basement by 10 other people. Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, and Christine were all leaning on the wall by his dresser. Jake and Rich were both sitting on Rich’s bed. Matt was sitting on Michael’s bed, and his moms and Paul Heere were all standing in the middle of the room.

“Uh… can I help any of you?” Michael asked.

“This is an intervention.” Jenna said.

“I can pretty much tell. About what?”

“I’m sorry, what do you think?” Chloe asked. “We’re all sick of your bullshit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Take a good look at who’s not in the room and make a deduction.” Rich called from his bed.

Michael half-glanced around the room before appealing to the people most likely to listen to him— his moms.

“No.”

“Michael, sweetheart.” Analyn said. “We’ve all given you plenty of time.”

“You make this sound like it’s a chore I have to do! You can’t make this decision for me!”

“Michael.” Brooke stepped off the wall. “Everyone with eyes can see how much the two of you miss each other. But if you’re waiting for some kind of sign that things haven’t changed, or waiting for Jeremy to approach you first, it’s not going to happen, and you know that.”

“But that’s not fair.” Michael snapped at Brooke, stepping further down the stairs. “I shouldn’t be asked to approach him first. He’s the one who left me behind.”

“Michael, look.” Jake stood up from Rich’s bed and walked towards the middle of the room. “Take it from someone who knows the half of the story you don’t, that’s not what happened. At least not entirely. Chloe and Brooke and Jenna can back me up here.”

All three aforementioned girls nodded.

“Son.” Paul folded his hands. “I think Jeremy really needs you right now. I think he has for a long time, actually, and you would help him immensely if you would talk to him and try to see his side.”

“He loves you.” Christine said. “And he misses you. He talks about you a lot, you know.”

“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Rich when he was avoiding you.” Matt said. “Stop.”

Michael gave him a deadpan look.

Matt shrugged. “That’s what I said.”

“Honestly, Michael.” Rachel crossed her arms. “This will help both of you, but mostly we’re all tired of watching you two dance around each other. Today’s Friday, so Jeremy will be at his house for the next couple days. This is the perfect opportunity. Go talk to him.”

Michael looked back and forth between everyone else in the room, some of whom were giving him encouraging looks, some of whom were half-glaring at him, all of whom weren’t backing down.

Michael sighed. “Alright. Alright, fine.”

He started down the stairs again, only for everyone to move and block him at the bottom. He stared at all of them.

“You mean now?”

“Now!” they all screamed simultaneously.

Michael held his hands up and leaned away. “Alright, alright.”

“Here.” Rachel took off a backpack that Michael hadn’t realized she’d been wearing until now. “If it starts to not go well, open that.”

“What’s this?” Michael took the backpack.

“We made you a care package.” Christine said.

Michael looked around at everyone. “Seriously?”

“Get going!” Rachel called, pointing up the stairs.

Michael sighed, turned, and walked back up the stairs.

“We’ll be here until you both come back!” Rich called after him.

He tried to stamp out his irritation during the drive to Jeremy’s house. It probably wouldn’t do good to show up already not wanting to talk, considering… Well, as much as he hated to admit it, everyone was right. He needed to talk to Jeremy.

He grabbed the backpack off the passenger seat, and headed up towards the front door. Luckily, when he checked, the spare key was still under the mat, and Michael let himself in.

He sighed to himself one last time before calling out, “Jeremy?” to the empty house. There was no response at first, until, after about half a minute, Jeremy appeared at the top of the steps to upstairs. “Michael?” he asked hesitantly. “What are you doing here?”

“Everyone that we both know is making me come over here and talk to you.”

“…Oh. I mean, if you just want to tell them we did, you can leave.” Jeremy looked down and started fidgeting with his fingers.

Michael sighed. “No, they’re waiting at my house for both of us to come back. Besides,” he hesitated. “I… we do need to talk.”

“Or we could not and say we did.” Jeremy said quickly.

“Where do you want to go?” Michael said in lieu of an actual response.

Jeremy sighed. “Let’s just go to my room.”

Michael nodded and headed up the steps, putting the backpack on as he did so. He followed Jeremy down the hall, kind of surprised his room hadn’t changed locations along with everything else the Squip had done.

It might as well have, though.

“Where are your space posters?” Michael asked, looking around Jeremy’s incredibly sparse room. “Or your gaming console?”

Jeremy blinked and looked around with Michael, like he was just now noticing. “Uh… the Squip made me throw them out. Like, over a year ago.”

“Oh.” Michael said.

Well, that didn’t help with his whole ‘how different is Jeremy’ fear. Michael slowed down and stopped close to the entryway.

“How long has it been since you played video games anyway?” he asked, slowly taking off the backpack and setting it on the desk chair.

Jeremy looked down and started tugging on his sleeve. “Uh… well I played this game Rich brought to Brooke’s house called Apocalypse of the Damned.”

“Oh!” Michael lit up, the reason he was there momentarily forgotten. “Did you like it? Because I got that last year, it was out of print, and I actually _ love _ it, like so much. It seemed like the kind of thing you’d like when I bought it.” Michael shoved his hands into his hoodie pocket, looking down as he remembered where he was. “I mean, I dunno.”

When he looked up hesitantly Jeremy was smiling a little. “I loved it.” he said quietly. “But I haven’t really gotten to play it since.”

“You can…” Michael bit his lip. “You can come over and play it sometimes. If you want. It’s up to four players. You can play with Rich and I. Or I mean, just me if… if you want.”

“I might just take you up on that.” Jeremy said.

Neither of them said anything for another minute, and Michael didn’t look at Jeremy.

“So.” Jeremy said finally. “Are we gonna actually talk, or should you just go home?”

Michael glared upwards. “That’s not fair.”

Jeremy flinched and stepped backwards. “I’m sorry.”

Michael paused. “No, I… I’m sorry, Jer. It’s just… it’s hard, alright?”

“I know.” Jeremy said softly.

“Can we sit?” Michael gestured at Jeremy’s bed, and Jeremy nodded. They both walked over and sat down, and Michael turned to face Jeremy.

“Look, I’m trying not to put all of this on you,” he said. “But I don’t know where to start.”

“I got it when you were on your camping trip.” Jeremy said.

“I know. I worked that part out. Just another reason to never go camping, huh?”

Jeremy laughed a little. “Yeah, um. I just… I needed you.” Jeremy sniffed and wiped at his nose. “I needed you and you weren’t there. And after everything with Mom, I just…”

“Your mom?” Michael cut him off. “What happened with your mom?”

Jeremy glanced at him in surprise. “You don’t know? Didn’t Analyn or Rachel tell you? She wasn’t at your house today.”

Michael blinked. “How did you know that? Where is she?”

Jeremy looked away. “Michael, she’s gone.”

Michael narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Gone?”

“She left. While you were on that camping trip with your moms, she—”

“She _ left?!” _Michael said, so many thoughts running through his head that he couldn’t even begin to sift through.

Jeremy sniffed again and nodded. Michael opened his mouth to say something else, but Jeremy spoke first. “And like, I think I was in shock. Because all I could think about was that she told me I needed to get new shoes soon, and—”

“Payless,” Michael realized. That was where Rich said he’d gotten his Squip. Jeremy nodded, looking miserable.

“And— so I— I got a Squip to try and be worth something to her again.” Jeremy said.

“Jeremy,” Michael whispered, because if he had a week he couldn’t list everything wrong with that.

“And it looked—” Jeremy covered his mouth with his hand. “It looked like her.” he whispered.

Michael’s eyes widened. “You said—” he said quietly. “When you were helping Rich, you said your Squip wasn’t here in real life. I thought you meant you didn’t _ know _ your Squip in real life.”

Jeremy shook his head and rubbed at his eyes.

“And for like seven months I couldn’t find you and I didn’t know what had happened, and when I found out I just. I got mad at Rich.” Jeremy sniffed again, and Michael could see the tears rolling down his face that he was no longer trying to wipe away. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair. You’re allowed to make your own choices about who you like and who you don’t.”

“What do you mean?” Michael asked, because what did that have to do with Rich?

Jeremy sniffed again and turned away from Michael. “Come on, Micah. Don’t make me say it out loud.”

“Say what out loud? I don’t understand, what are you talking about?”

Jeremy sighed. “Do you know about optic nerve blocking?” he asked, sounding resigned and hopeless.

“Um, a little?” Michael said. “But I’ve never been told anything directly. Just kind of worked some stuff out. I thought people with Squips just kind of avoided their best friends. I didn’t know there was a name for it.”

“Basically a Squip can use optic nerve blocking to block objects or people from someone’s sight so they can’t see them at all.”

“Wait.” Michael said. He thought he knew what Jeremy meant, but it seemed like too simple an explanation for everything that had been caused by it. “Are you telling me you couldn’t _ see _ me? Like literally, I was not _ visible _ to you?”

Jeremy wiped at his eyes. “I’m sorry.” he choked out. “I just— I didn’t know what happened to you and it wouldn’t tell me and when I finally did find out it was like, February and you had already replaced me with Rich and—”

“Woah, woah, woah, wait.” Michael interrupted. “Wait.” Jeremy stopped and seemed to force himself to look at Michael. “Is that what you think?”

Jeremy blinked hard a couple times to try and stop his tears. It didn’t do much good. “What?”

“Jeremy,” Michael said. He honestly felt a little insulted. Did Jeremy really think he would do something like that? “Rich is one of the most important people in my life. He’s my little brother. But he never _ replaced _ you. No one could _ ever _ replace you. Where in the world did you get that idea?”

Jeremy looked a little baffled. “Wha— from—” he stopped.

He looked away and stared ahead at nothing for a long moment. Then he looked down at his shoes and followed that up with what appeared to be a game of “Let’s look anywhere except at Michael.”

Michael’s eyes widened as he realized exactly where Jeremy had gotten that idea.

He looked down until he found a spot on Jeremy’s floor where the wood was chipped and stared at it for a few seconds, and then laughed.

Jeremy looked back over in confusion, but Michael kept laughing, although it was more bitter than any laugh he thought he’d given before in his life.

“So basically,” he said, pulling his hands through his hair. “The Squips decided that I was an excellent _ tool _ to use to fuck with both of my best friends.”

“Michael—” Jeremy said softly.

“Jesus.” Michael laughed again and his hands came to rest in between his glasses and his eyes. He sniffed and wiped at his own tears before they escaped.

“Look, Michael, I’m sor—”

_ “It’s not your fault!” _ Michael snapped, yanking his hands away from his eyes and glaring at Jeremy. “Don’t you _ dare _ try to apologize for what that _ thing _ did to you!”

“But it _ was _ my fault.”

“No.”

“Some of it.”

“Maybe. But if I know you at all you’re blaming yourself for more than ‘some of it.’ And if it’s not all Rich’s fault it’s not all yours either.” Michael leaned backwards until he was laying on the bed and pushed his glasses up with his hands again. “God, Jer. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

Jeremy laid back too. “It’s not your fault.”

Neither of them said anything for a long while, until Jeremy sniffed again. “I miss you.” he said.

“I’m right here,” Michael replied.

“You haven’t been.”

“I’m here now. And I’m not leaving again, okay?” He reached blindly for Jeremy’s hand, who caught it and squeezed it like it was a lifeline.

“I am so sorry.” Jeremy said. “For everything.”

“It’s _ okay, _ Jeremy. Alright? I swear, it’s okay. I forgive you.”

“Thank you.” Jeremy whispered.

They both laid there in silence for a while again.

“Hey, Michael, you know something?”

“What?”

“I told Jake that I guess the Squip telling me how to win Mom back isn’t happening anymore. But… I don’t think I want anything to do with her. Ever again.”

“I think that’s okay. Hell, that seems pretty healthy, to be honest. But if you want a second opinion, my older brother’s studying to be a therapist.”

Jeremy chuckled a little. “I’m still not used to hearing you talk about Rich and Matt as your brothers.”

“Well, you better get used to it. Because they’re sticking around.”

“What happened to you?”

Michael sighed. He had been pretty sure that question was coming. “You sure you want to know?”

“I’m not going to tell you all about the past year and half of my life and then still know nothing about yours.”

“Yeah, okay.” Michael said. “Well, I got back from my camping trip and you were nowhere to be found. I stood outside your house for like half a day and you didn’t show up. I tried calling and texting, but you didn’t answer. I eventually decided to wait until school started and confront you, but then you weren’t acknowledging my presence. The first day of sophomore year was when I met Rich, and he was… amazing. Still is, obviously. Around February was when my moms took him in because— oh, uh—”

“His biological dad.” Jeremy said softly. “I know. I’m sorry, my Squip told me.”

“Oh. Well yeah, that. I felt really bad about that, because up until then it had felt like most of our friendship just consisted of me missing you and talking about it. But looking back, I’m pretty sure that was confirmation bias.”

“Uh, what?”

“Jenna. Psychology.”

“Oh yeah, that thing where you only notice something when it happens and not when it doesn’t so you think it happens more often than it does.”

“Yup. I wanted Rich to know I cared about him outside of talking about how much I missed you.”

Jeremy sniffed. “The Squip said you replaced me in three days.”

“Yeah, when pigs fly.”

Jeremy snorted.

“What?”

“No, that was actually another thing it said— nothing, inside joke.”

“With yourself?”

“More or less.”

“Uh, okay.” Michael looked up at the ceiling in thought. “That was February. I think that was about the time I actually started to try and move on from you. At least, in a healthier way.”

“February was when the Squip lied to me about what happened. Same week that Brian West showed up.” Jeremy growled a little at the name. “Motherfucker.”

“Oh, right. And you beat him up.” Michael said, making it clear with his voice that he wasn’t buying that.

“Uh, yeah… that was Chloe.”

“I figured.”

“Look, I was doing us both a favor. Chloe was about to snap and beat up some innocent bystander otherwise, and he said he gave you a black eye. Like I could let that shit slide.”

Michael looked over at Jeremy in surprise. “What?”

“Uh… yeah. I mean, he actually said Mitchell Mell, but that wasn’t hard to figure out.”

“Jeremy.”

“Look, I hadn’t heard from you in over half a year, and the first information I get is that this asshole hurt you. I got a little bit livid.”

Michael shook his head at Jeremy. “I can’t believe you.”

“Uh… believe it?”

Michael laughed a little bit and scooted closer to Jeremy before sitting up. “So, If we’re continuing on this story of my recent life, that summer my moms adopted Rich and Matt, and then a few months ago when fall hit you offered Rich the Squip.”

Jeremy sighed again, as he sat up too. “I fucking hated that. I didn’t want him to have a Squip, but I didn’t know why, and I still believed the Squip was helping me.”

“You did, really?” Michael asked, growing more concerned.

“Well, sort of. See, most of Junior Year, at least the beginning of it, is really fuzzy, because I was so terrified of my Squip that I wasn’t really focusing on much of anything else. I wanted it out but I wouldn’t really admit it to myself for fear of what it would do.” Jeremy looked away as Michael still gazed on him with concern. “And I still believed that I wasn’t worth anything without it.” he whispered.

“Jer,” Michael said, pretty sure this is what heartbreak felt like. “You don’t think that anymore, do you?”

Jeremy hesitated. “I’m… getting there. I know it’s a piece of shit. I guess the next part is convincing myself I’m not.”

“I’ll help you with that if you want.” Michael said. “Any way I can.”

“Thank you.” Jeremy murmured.

Michael leaned a little closer, and so did Jeremy, until their shoulders were touching. “I’m pretty sure you know most of what happened with Rich and his Squip.” Michael said.

Jeremy nodded. “I’ve more or less put the pieces together. I’ve kinda figured what happened Post-Squip too. I was really happy when you became friends with Jenna, believe it or not. I didn’t want you to be lonely.” Jeremy chuckled a little. “I was mad at Rich for a bit for not talking to you after the hospital.”

“You didn’t talk to me.”

Jeremy shrugged, and Michael felt it rub against his shoulder. “I figured you obviously cared about him, and obviously hated me. My brain is stupid.”

“Not stupid, just insecure.” Michael said, nudging Jeremy lightly. “And I will never hate you.”

“I figured that out when you apologized for yelling at me.” Jeremy said softly. “That kind of blindsided me. I never could have seen it coming.”

“I’m still sorry about that.” Michael said. “I had no right to take my bad day out on you.”

“Yeah, well, I know something about taking bad days out on other people. It’s really convenient.”

“Doesn’t make it okay.”

“No. But I forgive you.”

Michael smiled a little bit. “Thank you.” he said. He looked over at Jeremy and smiled a little more. “I really missed you.”

Jeremy smiled at him. “I missed you too.” he said quietly. He looked down at the ground sadly. “And I’m really going to miss being your best friend.” he mumbled.

“Woah, hey.” Michael gave Jeremy a little bit of a bewildered look. “Who says we’re not still best friends?”

Jeremy looked at him. “Rich and Jake,” he said.

Michael rolled his eyes. “We’re not six, Jeremy. We can have more than one best friend. And to be frank, if I spend the rest of my life not being your best friend because of the _ fucking Squip _— I will lose it.”

Jeremy laughed a little, and it may not have been big, but at least it was genuine, and Michael hadn’t heard that in a while. He opened his arms to Jeremy questioningly.

Jeremy launched himself into them.

They both sat there hugging for a while without saying anything, and Michael was finding his brain finally calming down, because this was still Jeremy. This was very much Jeremy Heere. He smiled into Jeremy’s shoulder.

When Michael pulled back a bit his eyes caught on the backpack on Jeremy’s desk chair.

“Oh yeah, hey,” he said, walking over to grab it. “Mom gave me this thing to look at if the whole conversation started to go south. You want to see what’s in it?”

“Yes, I do.” Jeremy said, scooting forward a bit as Michael carried it over to the bed.

He set it down and unzipped it, before he groaned and collapsed back on the bed. “That’s it, I’m gonna kill them.”

“What?”

Michael reached inside and pulled out the photo album on top, flipping it open to find pictures of Jeremy and him, confirming his suspicions.

On the first page was him and Jeremy at what appeared to be the age of seven or eight, both holding the remains of ice cream cones that seemed to have ended up more on their face than in their mouths.

That was also around the age Michael had a front tooth gap big enough for his tongue to stick through, which Jeremy put his finger on. He snorted. “You looked so stupid.” he said.

Michael gasped overdramatically. “Hey! Keep that up and I’m sure there’s the picture in here of you with Nanay’s bra on your head.”

Jeremy just laughed harder and leaned forward to turn the page, revealing a picture that must have been taken while they weren’t looking, of the two of them playing with a bunch of Little People toys.

“Well, this is rather emotionally manipulative of them.” Michael said. He chuckled and shook his head. “Hey, look, there’s freshman homecoming.”

“God, I did not miss homecoming.” Jeremy said, shaking his head. “I mean, the Squip made me go, but I mostly just stood off to the side, looking like the incredibly cool person I am and laughing at all those dancing fools.”

“Right, cause standing on a wall all night sounds lovely.”

“Yeah, it was about as fun as you’re thinking. But if I was dancing I would have just felt like an idiot, so.”

Michael set the photo album to the side and reached back into the backpack. “Oh my God. They gave us sour gummy worms.”

“Oh fuck yeah, gimme!”

Michael laughed and opened the package, passing one to Jeremy, who shoved about six of them into his mouth at once.

“Oh, junk food. Wherefore art thou, junk food?” Michael said.

“You are friends with Rich.” Jeremy said.

“Oh, you love him too.”

Jeremy smiled. “Yeah, I do. You know he actually lets me read his stories? Like, ones he works _ so _ hard on. And he wants _ my _ opinion.”

Michael nodded at him, smiling wider. “Yeah. I always tell him I don’t have much to offer in the way of writing advice, but he wants to hear what I think anyway.”

“I _ know, _I feel, like, incredibly honored.”

Michael grinned before reaching into the backpack again. “Oh.” he said in surprise.

“What?”

“Do you have any tape?” Michael asked, pulling out a couple of space posters. “Because I think my moms know you too well.”

Jeremy lit up, and went over to his desk before opening a drawer and pulling out scotch tape.

Michael unrolled a poster about the asteroid belt and they both climbed onto Jeremy’s bed to hang it up.

“Y’know,” Michael said, starting to smile mischievously as Jeremy taped a corner down. “There is still everyone we know back at my house, who said they would stay there until the two of us came back there together.”

Jeremy started grinning. “You wanna give them a couple extra hours?”

“I mean, I was thinking a couple extra days, but…”

“Well, yeah. That’s because you’re a drama queen.”’

“I will not deny that.”

…

Michael was a little surprised how easily he slipped back into friendship with Jeremy. It seemed to surprise everyone else too, but as soon as they talked through their shit, they were getting along like a house on fire again— actually, no, that was a really bad analogy.

Michael wasn’t going to make Jeremy talk about that. If he desperately needed to know, he would ask Jake, but honestly, everyone seemed to want to put it behind them.

Sunday was mostly spent at Jeremy’s house with Rich, Jake, Jeremy, and Apocalypse of the Damned. Spoiler alert, Jeremy and Jake both died a lot.

And while Michael never would have imagined himself seeking out Jake Dillinger to thank him for being there for Jeremy, it happened that Sunday.

Jake and Rich were an adorable couple, and Rich seemed to find Jake and Jeremy pretending to be a couple as hilarious as they did, so neither of them planned to stop.

Much of Sunday also consisted of redecorating Jeremy’s room. Jake insisted on buying all of the stuff they were getting due to him being, as he put it, “filthy stinking my boyfriend.” (Rich smacked him on the shoulder.) By the end of the day Jeremy had posters, space and a couple of theatre ones donated by Christine (which was a little confusing but Michael brushed it off), bookshelves with books that Rich insisted he have, and a gaming console sitting where it had been two years ago. Jeremy collapsed back on his bed while they were all looking at the finished product with a sigh of “Home sweet home.”

But the biggest surprise Michael had yet to learn of came on Monday morning, when Michael glanced over from his locker to see Jeremy walking into the school holding hands with Christine, both of their arms swinging back and forth. Christine stopped at Jeremy’s locker and gave him a kiss on the cheek that Jeremy practically melted at before turning to skip off down the hall.

Michael shut his locker and walked across the hall. “Hey.” he said as he approached Jeremy.

Jeremy beamed at him. “Hi. Good morning.” He shoved his backpack into his locker and reached for his books.

“So…”

Jeremy turned back to Michael curiously.

“You have a girlfriend?”

Jeremy instantly lit up. “Oh my gosh, yes! Isn’t she amazing? She’s so pretty, and smart, and she loves theatre and I think I’m starting to really like it too, and we watch a bunch of bootlegs in my room, and her favorite food is a banana smoothie which she says totally counts because it’s kind of solid, and—”

And Jeremy didn’t look like he was going to stop anytime soon. So Michael moved over to lean against a locker and smiled at Jeremy. Man, he was going to love being friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there is one chapter left. Prepare yourself for a short bit of pure fluff, because Lord knows I have put these characters through enough.


	34. Chapter 34

“Why… in the world… would you want… to do this?” Jake got out before collapsing on the ground on top of the sleeping bag pile. “That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life!”

“Well, it would’ve…” Jeremy coughed. “It would have been easier… if anyone else wanted to help us set up the… the _ ten person tent!” _

“I’m sorry, what was that?” came Michael’s voice from the over by his car. “I couldn’t hear you over the dinner we’re getting ready!”

“That doesn’t take six people!” Jeremy screamed.

“Sorry, can’t hear you!”

“Oh my God.” Jake dragged himself up from the sleeping back pile. “That’s it, I’m not exercising for a week.”

“I think we’ve all heard it agreed upon that Jake and I get first dibs on the food.” Jeremy said, walking back across the campsite towards the picnic table.

“Someone said that? Who said that?” Chloe asked casually, picking up an Oreo.

Jeremy shot her a deadpan look. “I am perfectly willing to sleep in Michael’s car, and I _ will _ go tear that tent down faster than you can finish that cookie.”

Chloe set the Oreo back down.

“Okay, almost done!” called Brooke from the grill by the fire pit. “I don’t know about Chloe, since she’s seen better, but I think these are gonna be the best damn burgers any of you other losers have ever had.”

“I still can’t believe I lived in your house for like, a month, and never got to try your grilling, Brooke.” Rich said from where he was perched on a nearby lawn chair.

“It was too cold to grill then.” Brooke said, flipping a burger.

“Hey, get up, that’s my chair.” Jake said, pushing the back of Rich’s head from behind as he walked over.

Rich obediently hopped up until Jake sat down, and then he planted himself on his lap.

“Get your man, Rich!” called Jenna from the chair across the circle they’d made.

“I am on it.” came another voice from behind Jeremy, just before Christine wrapped her arms around him.

“I’m sorry, is your name Rich?” Rich asked.

“It is if it means I get my man.” Christine said, leaning forward to kiss Jeremy’s cheek.

Jeremy reached backwards and hugged Christine. “Hi.”

“This feels really uncomfortable.” Christine laughed, before letting go and moving to the other side of Jeremy.

“Okay, but seriously.” Michael appeared on Jeremy’s other side, and Jeremy glanced over. “I don’t actually understand why we’re here. Didn’t we have a whole conversation about why you shouldn’t go camping, ever? This was your idea.”

Jeremy reached for Christine’s hand, and waited until she slid hers inside his, then started fidgeting with it. “Yeah, I know.” he said.

“So you want to explain your reasoning there?” Chloe asked, wandering over to Brooke, and holding a tray for her to put burgers on.

“I don’t know, I just kind of thought it could be symbolic, or something? Of how far we’ve come? Because, I mean, part of the reason I took a Squip was because Michael was camping. Or, not the reason, but like, the circumstances, I guess? And it could just be like, a way to come full circle. I don’t know, it’s stupid.”

“Hey, that’s not stupid.” Michael said, nudging Jeremy with his elbow. “I mean, I’ll never forgive you for taking us away from the air conditioning, but it’s at least a sweet sentiment.”

“I could sing my Lion King rendition.” Jake said.

“No.” Rich said instantly.

“Why not?”

“Because it doesn’t fit with the rythmn, and it’s stupid.”

“Air conditioning! What a wonderful phrase!”

“Shut up!”

“Ain’t no passing craze!”

“It means no worries!” Jeremy joined in.

“For the rest of your days!” Christine sang, waving her arms around dramatically.

“I will push all of you in the lake!”

Everyone finally stopped with laughter.

“You know, if it makes you guys feel better, I will personally drive home and break all of your air conditioners.” Jeremy said.

Michael stared at him. “And that would make us feel better why, exactly?”

“It would prepare you for the next camping trip.”

“Oh my God, no, we are _ never _ doing this again.” Chloe said.

“Burgers are done!” Brooke called, cutting off anything else anyone was going to say. “And since it really is fair because Jake and Jeremy set up the whole tent by themselves, they do get first pick.”

“Ha! I bet Brooke would have helped us if she wasn’t making dinner!” Jeremy called, as Jake moved Rich off of his lap.

“Of course I would have. I’m nice.”

Many protests erupted.

Chloe put the tray of burgers on the table, and Jeremy and Jake both grabbed burgers and put them on plates, before turning to rest of the spread on the table. It consisted mostly of toppings taken from a cooler, as well as Oreos and s’more stuff for later. Jeremy added lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes to his burger, then watched as Jake proceeded to clean out everything else.

“Did you really put ranch on that thing?” Jeremy asked as they took a seat at the table.

“Uh-huh.” Jake said, taking a very messy bite.

Jeremy slid down a little. “You disgust me.”

Everyone had burgers in five or so minutes, and Brooke was definitely right about these being some of the best ones Jeremy had ever had. She was complimented about twelve times.

Michael was the last one finished, and was obviously purposely taking a long time, because they had all agreed to wait on the s’mores until everyone had finished. Everyone stared at him as he put the last bite in his mouth and chewed it at about the speed of a snail, before finally swallowing.

“Okay. Let’s make s’mores.” he said, grinning stupidly at everyone else.

“You get the last one.” Jenna said as she reached for the marshmallows right in front of her.

Jeremy wasn’t too sure about going over to the fire pit, so Jake was toasting his marshmallow, golden brown, obviously, as Jeremy got a chance to sit back and take stock as everyone ran up to the fire to toast theirs.

Both Michael and Chloe liked them burned black, which Jeremy had never understood, but since everyone else liked theirs golden brown, the result was that Michael and Chloe had both had about three s’mores by the time everyone else’s first marshmallows were done.

Jeremy didn’t want to ask anyone to make him three s’mores, so after he finished his first he went over to grab his book from the car while everyone else made as many as they wanted. When he walked off, Michael and Jake were both surrounding Rich, and belting out “It’s our problem-free philosophy! Air conditioning!” as Rich looked like he wanted to murder both of them.

One of the worst parts about camping was being in the middle of nowhere, often with no cell service, so Jeremy had been forced to read one of the books Rich had given him. It was ‘And Then There Were None’ by Agatha Christie, and… it was actually pretty amazing. Rich still refused to reveal who the murderer was, no matter how many times Jeremy asked him.

But since Jake’s car, in which his book was in, was parked behind a cluster of trees, the table didn’t see Jeremy walking back over, and Jeremy saw Michael and Christine talking before they saw him.

Christine nodded, and said something Jeremy couldn’t hear, and Michael nodded in what seemed to be approval.

Jeremy walked around the bushes. “You better not be giving her a best friend lecture.” he said.

“I was giving her a best friend test.” Michael said without missing a beat. “She passed with flying colors.”

“Boom!” Christine called.

Jeremy shook his head with a smile before hitting the back of Michael’s head on the way back to the table.

Christine jogged forward a little bit and caught Jeremy’s hand in hers, which they both started to swing back and forth.

“Oh, hey, Jeremy!” Rich called, as they approached the table. “Do you think the reason no one is hearing their Squip out here is because they need to be linked to technology or something?”

“Nope. I’m banking on the power of friendship.”

“Friendship!” Christine called, shoving her free hand in the air. Michael walked up from behind them and clasped his free hand with Christine’s, and Jeremy shoved their linked hands up in the air to complete the image.

“Hey, Jeremy, come here.” Jenna called, drawing his attention. “Rich and I made you two more s’mores because you were being stupid and not asking.”

Jeremy sighed and shook his head a little with a smile. “Thanks, guys.” he said as he sat down to eat one of them.

“Anytime.” Rich said, shooting a finger gun at him.

The rest of the night was filled with conversation and joking, before the first one to go to bed was Rich, followed by Jake, who Jermey sent off with a high five. Jenna soon followed them, to make sure they didn’t ‘try anything’ in the tent.

“See, this is why Rich is the first one up.” Michael said. “He goes to bed first.”

“I can beat him.” Chloe said with what was definitely a ton of unearned confidence. She went to the car to get her toothbrush, followed by Brooke.

Jeremy kissed Christine on the cheek as she headed towards the tent, which left him alone with Michael, who was putting out the fire.

“Careful.” Jeremy murmured as Michael returned with the now empty bucket of water. “That stuff can hurt you.”

“I know.” Michael said. “You know it’s okay if you’re bothered by it? No one’s gonna be upset with you.”

“Christine isn’t bothered by theatre anymore.”

“Theatre hasn’t ever killed anyone.”

“Abraham Lincoln.”

Michael paused. “Okay, valid comeback.” He set the bucket down and walked around to the other side of the table to sit next to Jeremy. “It’s okay. Everyone understands.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

Jeremy took a deep breath. “Okay.”

He leaned back and nudged Michael a second later. “Look up.”

Michael did. “Oh, wow. You can see the milky way.”

“I wish Rich hadn’t gone to bed, we could have asked him about constellations.”

“Yeah, I’m… really bad at that. We can ask him tomorrow though.”

They both sat there for another five minutes or so before Jeremy stood up to go to bed, and Michael joined him.

“Hey.” Michael said.

“Yeah?”

“This was a really good idea.”

Jeremy smiled, though it probably couldn’t be seen in the dark. “Thanks, Michael.”

And with that, they both headed for the tent, Michael muttering something about needing to get up to help Rich with breakfast in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that brings an end to the longest story I have ever published on this site. This story was amazingly fun to write, and thank you so much for all the kudos and comments. I have two other stories I’m working on, but I’m not sure when they will be published or which one I’m going to publish first, to be honest. Especially with everything going on, it might be a while, but I will try to work on them and start publishing one as soon as possible.


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